


Apocalypse

by SLynn



Series: Apocalypse [1]
Category: Heroes (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Gen, One-Sided Relationship, Pre-Relationship, Season 1 up to Fallout, relationship building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-03
Updated: 2012-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 13:39:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 35
Words: 67,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/953749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SLynn/pseuds/SLynn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years have passed since the explosion and life has drastically changed for everyone.  This isn’t the world they imagined they’d be saving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Promises

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first story in a series I did for Heroes many years ago that I called the 'Apocalypse' series. It's an older work that is also available on ff.net and my LJ. Sorry to spam any followers, I just want to get these transferred over to Ao3. All my thanks to everyone who helped me out with this originally, mainly Tripp3235.

_“Run!”_

_“Peter, I can’t just leave you here.”_

_“There isn’t time to argue. You have to go. Now!”_

_“Peter…”_

_“Damn it, Claire, I said run!”_

…

She woke with a start, sitting straight up as she drew in ragged gasps of breath.

“You okay?”

Claire looked towards the voice with some surprise.

“Yeah,” she answered as casually as she could. “What time is it?”

“Just after seven,” Matt answered from where he stood, leaning into the corner of the room.

She nodded, swinging her legs over the side of the cot before reluctantly getting to her feet.

“You were having that dream again.”

It wasn’t a question, and Claire knew it. It was almost an accusation.

“It was three years ago, Claire. It’s time to let go.”

She said nothing. Just sat and stared for a moment.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I could have saved him,” she said forcefully.

“No,” he said. “You couldn’t have. We’ve been over this. The explosion would have killed you both.”

“So instead we just let Peter…”

Claire couldn’t finish, choked on the words.

“He wouldn’t have it any other way,” Matt said quietly.

Claire nodded silently in agreement, rubbing the palms of her hands vigorously across her eyes.

“I’m worried about you. We all are. This isn’t healthy.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” she said dismissively. “I’m fine.”

“I could hear you from the other room.”

 _‘Then stop listening,’_ she thought rather cruelly.

“I can’t,” he answered flatly.

“I hate it when you do that.”

_‘Try it on my end.’_

“I hate that more,” Claire said with a disdainful look on her face, pulling a sweatshirt over her head as she made her way to the door.

Matt smiled a bit and just shrugged at her. In the past year all of their powers had changed, evolved. Matt was still working on controlling his talent for reading thoughts and his even stranger ability to push his own thoughts into other’s heads.

“I’ve got to practice on someone,” he said, as if that excused it.

“And the house is full of freaks, so pick someone else.”

“We’re not freaks, Claire,” he said as he followed her out the door and down the steps.

“Speak for yourself.”

“Listen,” he said, catching her by the elbow and stopping her just outside the kitchen door, “I’m just saying that maybe you should talk to someone about it.”

“We’ve talked about it.”

“I meant someone else.”

Claire raised an eyebrow at him.

“You’re the only one who was there,” Claire argued, “right there when it happened. Have you talked to anyone else about it?”

“Yes.”

“Audrey?” Claire asked.

Matt nodded.

“So have I,” Claire contended. “I’ve talked to Hiro…”

“Asking Hiro to go back and warn…”

“How do you know that?” she accused.

“I’m…”

“Why bother,” she interrupted. “Why don’t you just pull it out of my head?”

“Claire,” he said in a tone reminiscent of her father.

With one last glare she pulled free from his grasp and pushed her way into the kitchen.

Matt hesitated, wiping a hand across his face. None of this had been easy, not for any of them, but Claire just couldn’t seem to move on. Didn’t seem to want to. She was taking all the blame when in reality it was no one’s fault.

It had been destiny.

Finally Matt made his way into the kitchen only to find Niki and D.L. there as well, ending all hopes he had for continuing his conversation with Claire.

“Matt,” D.L. said, “we’ve got to talk.”

“And we need to train,” Niki said directly to Claire.

“What do I need to train for?” Claire shot back. “It’s not like I can get hurt.”

Niki shook her head in exasperation.

“Or like I’ll ever get the chance to do anything,” Claire added under her breath.

“Its good exercise,” Niki said.

“Fine,” Claire relented, leaving her seat at the table.

“I’ll be downstairs in a minute,” Niki said to her. “I’ll get Micah to join us. He could use some practice too.”

“Good luck,” Claire said sarcastically before leaving the kitchen.

Niki smiled at both men as she headed out the opposite door in search of her son.

“What did you need to talk about?” Matt asked.

“We’ve got to move.”

“Again?” Matt asked. “We’ve only been here two nights. They can’t…”

“They are,” D.L. confirmed. “Micah has been on the net all day pulling down information. They’re onto us.”

Matt nodded, feeling guilty that the ‘us’ really only meant him and Claire. The rest of them were still off the militia’s radar for now. Hiro had garnered some attention, just after the blast, but they didn’t have much more than his name to go by.

“Why don’t you just…”

“It ain’t going to happen,” D.L. quickly cut in. “We’re all in this together. I know you’re only trying to do what you think is right, but I can’t let you do that. I can’t let you leave.”

“We’re holding you back.”

“You saved our lives.”

Matt shook his head vehemently.

“No,” he said. “I didn’t save anyone. There wasn’t anything…”

“Don’t argue with me,” D.L. cut in. “I know what happened. I was there too.”

Matt just kind of laughed and did his best to shrug it off. Like Claire, he was living with his own regrets.

“I was thinking,” D.L. continued, motioning to some maps he’d laid out on the table, “that we could head north a little this time. They won’t expect that.”

“No one would expect that,” Matt agreed. “It’s not safe.”

“I’m not saying we should go right into the thick of it,” D.L. said, “but just close enough to keep the militia off our backs.”

“Let me talk to Audrey before we decide,” Matt said. “See if she knows if they are still patrolling the state lines.”

“I doubt they can even find them,” D.L. added.

“True,” Matt returned, “but it’s better to be safe.”

D.L. agreed and for a moment Matt thought they were done.

“We’ve been talking and…” D.L. began earnestly.

“Yeah?”

_‘How do I say this?’_

“Quickly,” Matt answered to D.L.’s internal question. “Just do it quickly.”

“We’re worried about her.”

“Whose ‘we’?” Matt asked.

“Us. All of us. Niki, me, Micah, Hiro, Ando. She’s restless. Antsy.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?”

“Not we,” D.L. corrected, “you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” D.L. stated. “You’re suffocating her. She can’t stay cooped up forever. You have to let her out…”

“Do you realize how dangerous that is?” Matt asked loudly. “Her name, face, description are everywhere. People are looking for her. The wrong type of people, D.L.”

“They’re looking for you too but that doesn’t stop…”

“It’s different with me and you know it.”

“She’s not a little girl…”

“I know that,” Matt said defensively. “It has nothing to do with her age.”

“Then what?” D.L. asked. “What is it?”

Matt just tossed his hands in the air in frustration and shook his head, unable to explain it further.

“Micah is my son,” D.L. said, speaking in a low tone that just betrayed the emotion behind the words. “He’s my son and he’s my only child and it kills me to know that when he goes out that he might not make it back. It’s harsh and cold, but it’s a reality and a necessity. He’s got a gift that’s done us all a lot of good and to hold him back would cause us all to suffer. Niki and I do everything we can to prepare him for this world, but the most important thing we can do is trust him. Claire is not your daughter, Matt, but I know how important she is to you. She’s special to all of us, but you can’t keep this up; you can’t keep her from contributing because you’re afraid of losing her. She wants to be out there…”

“You don’t know that,” Matt interrupted.

“But you do,” D.L. returned pointedly.

For a minute nearly of them spoke until finally D.L. broke the silence.

“We’re all afraid.”

“I promised him.”

D.L. looked at the other man surprised. Matt didn’t typically volunteer information like this. For a man who could read other people’s thoughts, he was extremely private.

“I promised Peter,” Matt continued as he looked around the room, anywhere to avoid looking directly at D.L. “It was the last thing I said to him. The last thing he asked. He asked me to take care of her and so I have.”

“It’s time to let her start taking care of herself.”

Matt thought it over before slowly nodding his head.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Tonight we’ve got a raid planned; me, Micah and Ando. She’d be safe, I promise. Very easy, very routine.”

“Fine,” Matt said tersely, “but I’m coming too.”

“Matt…”

“I’m coming,” he said firmly.


	2. Alone

It felt so good to be outside.

Claire ran just behind Micah, not knowing where they were headed, but enjoying herself none the less. It was strange and new and exciting. And scary, but only a little. For the past three years the only time she’d been outside was when they’d moved houses. Of course, they moved every few months, sometimes sooner, but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t like this.

“Wait up,” Ando called after them.

“Quiet,” D.L. admonished.

At that, Claire and Micah slowed their pace, but not a lot.

“How much further?” Claire asked, taking in as much of her surroundings as possible.

“It’s just around the corner,” Micah answered, pointing the way.

Claire nodded and then immediately stopped and tensed up.

Micah stopped too, but only after realizing she was no longer right behind him.

“Don’t mind them,” he said to her, gently tugging on her arm, “they’re just drifters. Like us. We ignore them and they ignore us.”

Claire wasn’t convinced, not entirely until she looked back at the others. Ando and D.L. were still moving, ignoring the other people on the street just like Micah had said, seemingly oblivious, but Claire was only really easy when she saw Matt do the same. Saw him give the group across the street a hard, probing look. One she knew well; that she’d seen him give countless times.

Catching her eye, he smiled and gave her a little nod.

It was safe.

“Come on,” Micah said, pulling on her arm once more.

Claire joined him again, but it wasn’t as much fun as it had been just moments before.

She knew why Matt was so protective, why he was so worried for her all the time. People were after her, bad people. Claire understood the danger.

The government, what was left of the government, wanted her like they wanted all of them. They wanted to contain her.

The organization, the one her father worked for, wanted her like they wanted knowledge. They wanted to exploit her.

And then there was Sylar. Sylar who was out there still collecting. Collecting and destroying and hoarding. And killing, still killing.

He probably wanted her most of all.

Her father had seen to it that he’d had forgotten about her once, but he couldn’t stop Sylar from relearning that there was a girl out there who was invincible.

“We’re here,” Micah said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Wait,” Ando supplied, as he headed around the corner and out of sight.

Claire looked at the other three confused.

“Ando goes first,” D.L. provided. “He checks to see if any militia members are out. He’s the only one with a card. Micah hacked into their system and bumped up his status. So now, even if they check, he’s in the clear to be out past curfew.”

Claire nodded, getting it now. 

The cards had only been in effect for the past year, but she knew how they worked. In order to get anything nowadays you had to have a card. The cards were like a lifeline. Without one you couldn’t get a job, you couldn’t get rations, you couldn’t do anything. Being caught on the street without one was cause for instant internment. 

It was the new world order.

The militia, set up by the new government, had decreed it not long after they isolated the ‘hero’ gene. Only those without the gene got a card. If you happened to go in, get checked, and have the gene they hauled you off for further testing and internment.

Many people had refused first, out of principle, but times were hard. Things had changed. People were afraid.

“It’s clear,” Ando said, returning after only a few minutes.

“Let’s go,” D.L. said.

The five of them headed as a group around the corner and down the dimly lit street. The city they were in was better preserved than most and still had intermittent power. Claire knew that she’d been told the name of the city, somewhere outside of Baltimore, but she just couldn’t remember it now. Not that it mattered. Nothing that trivial seemed important anymore.

Together they approached a sturdy set of doors equipped with some type of electronic alarm.

Micah placed his hand on the keypad, the light went green and the door gave an audible pop.

He gave Claire a big smile which she couldn’t help returning before they made their way inside.

“What is this place?” Claire asked as Ando turned on a few lights and D.L. secured the door.

“Just a warehouse,” he provided.

“I can see that,” Claire said, “but what’s in it? What’s it for?”

“Provisions mostly,” Ando said. “Food. Blankets. Sometimes we find arms.”

“Guns?”

Ando nodded as he continued to look through a crate he and Micah had just opened.

“So, this is how we get our food?” Claire asked.

“Don’t look so surprised,” D.L. answered with a grin. “We have to eat.”

“No, I’m not,” Claire tried backpedaling, “I just thought when you guys went out…”

She stopped talking feeling Matt’s gaze on the back of her head.

“You thought there’d be a little more action?” D.L. asked, still grinning.

Claire just kind of shrugged, pretty much confirming it.

“Sorry,” D.L. said, sounding anything but. “Next time.”

“Let’s just get through this time,” Matt put in, looking around the room as if at any moment he expected half a dozen armed men to jump out at them.

But Claire had laughed, the first honest laugh anyone had heard from her in a long time. It was a nice sound.

They were only in the warehouse for about ten minutes. Just long enough to get the things they needed and get out again. Micah was sure to relock the alarm and they were back at the safe house in under an hour.

It wasn’t much of an excursion, but Claire was glad she’d gone.

“Everything go okay?” Hiro asked as they unloaded their goods. Three years living among them had vastly improved his English.

“Just fine,” D.L. commented with a smile, watching as Niki hugged Micah.

“Good,” Hiro said, clapping Ando on the shoulder with a friendly smile of his own.

Claire watched on for a moment as the goods were unpacked and sorted before slowly retreating out of the room.

She liked everyone she lived with, would do anything for them. They’d saved her, protected her, they were her family now, but it was moments like this that just reinforced how alone she felt.

They all had a history that was beyond this.

Niki, D.L. and Micah were a family, a real one, even before everything happened.

Hiro and Ando were friends. They’d grown up together and worked side by side for their whole lives.

And then there was Claire.

Maybe that was one of the reasons she and Matt stuck by each other so often and for so long. Maybe he felt a little like an outsider too.

“You disappeared.”

“That’d be new, wouldn’t it?” Claire commented back, trying to lighten the mood and lift her own spirits.

“I wish that there was something I could do for you,” Matt said, sitting down beside her.

“I’m okay,” she returned back almost automatically.

Matt smiled wryly and shook his head.

“Your pain,” he said softly, “it’s so loud. I can’t…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he said quickly. “I just, I want to help, Claire. I’ve been trying to help and I know I haven’t done a very good job of it.”

“No,” she argued, “you have. If it wasn’t for you… just after… I don’t know what would have happened to me. Sometimes I feel like you’re the only one I have left.”

“Everyone here…”

“No, they’re great. They are,” she continued, “but, I didn’t know them before any of this happened. We were just strangers. All of us.”

“So were we.”

“But it’s different somehow, you know?”

Matt nodded slowly in agreement.

“Sometimes it just really hits me; I can’t go home. It’s really never going to be like it was again. When I ran away, they erased me from my mother and brother’s memories. They wiped me out of my only real friend’s life.”

Claire paused, regaining herself a little.

“Peter was the first person I met that understood. Who was like me. I always felt like he connected me to everyone else.”

“I know what you mean.”

Claire turned and looked at him, smiling sadly.

“I guess I forget.”

“Forget?”

“That it isn’t just me. That you lost your wife,” Claire answered tentatively.

Matt sighed, burying his face into his hands. Even with everything that had gone wrong in his marriage, he’d still tried to make it work; had still wanted it to work. Losing her hadn’t been easy. None of this had been easy.

Claire responded by wrapping her arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“We helped each other, right?”

Matt chuckled a bit, nodding in agreement and closing his own hands around hers.

“I thought I was the mind reader.”

Claire laughed, squeezing him once more before finally letting go.

“Matt,” Hiro called from the doorway.

They both looked at him, unsure how long he’d been there.

“Sorry,” he apologized, “but Audrey is here. She wants to talk to you. To all of us.”

“I’ll be right there,” Matt answered, unmoving from his spot.

Hiro pressed his lips together looking decidedly uneasy before nodding and shutting the door back on the two of them.

“What’s going on?” Claire asked concerned.

“They’re getting closer.”

“But we’ve been…”

“Micah picked it up today. They definitely know we’re in the area. It’s not safe here anymore.”

“Where is it safe?”

“D.L. thinks up north.”

_‘Sylar.’_

“We have to risk it,” he answered to her undeclared statement.

“What happens to Audrey? To Mohinder? Do we just…”

“I’m hoping to convince them to come with us,” Matt sighed. “It’s just a matter of time before the government is on to them. I’m surprised they aren’t already.”

“And if we can’t?” Claire asked, the worry in her voice causing it to crack slightly.

_‘If Audrey stays…’_

“I won’t leave you alone,” he said resolutely.


	3. Trust

“How soon can you guys get packed?”

Matt, just entering the room, perked up as he heard Audrey ask the question.

“What’s wrong?”

“They’re coming,” Audrey answered amid the bustle.

“What?” Claire asked. “Now?”

“Soon,” the other woman answered. “They’re on to you, been tracking you all for a few weeks now. They plan to raid the house tonight. Late tonight. They want to try and catch you all inside.”

“How do you know for sure?” Matt asked.

_‘He still doesn’t trust me,’_ he heard her think in a voice that sounded hurt.

“No,” he answered unintentionally, “I just want to know…”

“I overheard a couple of the guys talking about a mission,” she said, ignoring his response. “Said they were going to nab three off the top of the list.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean…”

“It’s a really short list, Matt,” she interrupted.

“Where are we going to go?” Ando asked. “We’re running out of places to hide.”

“North,” D.L. answered bluntly. “We’re heading north.”

“What?” Niki asked, stopping everything and staring at her husband. “When was this decided?”

“Matt and I talked…”

“We didn’t decide anything,” Matt interrupted.

“Matt and you?” Niki questioned. “You told me we needed to think about going soon; that you were going to mention it to Matt, but you never said this. Why wasn’t I included on this decision? Or Hiro? Or anyone else for that matter?”

“We were just talking it over,” Matt said, trying to smooth things over. 

The last thing they needed right now was for Niki to lose her cool. She’d just managed to tap into her own powers without handing over full control to Jessica, her alter ego, but at best Niki’s hold on Jessica was shaky. None of them wanted to push her too hard.

“We’ve got to go somewhere,” D.L. continued to argue. “If we don’t get away now…”

“That has nothing to do with the two of you thinking you can run everything,” Niki shot back.

“There really isn’t time for this,” Audrey added urgently.

“Yes,” Hiro agreed, “we need to focus. We need to get moving.”

“Guys…” Matt said weakly, the strain of the emotion in the room starting to get the best of him. He felt his knees begin to buckle.

“No one is trying to run anything,” D.L. shot back at this wife. “We just want…”

“This isn’t necessary,” Hiro tried diplomatically. “I’m sure we have time to talk this out.”

“There’s that ‘we’ again,” Niki cut in on D.L., both of them ignoring Hiro completely.

“Stop it,” Claire shouted.

Everyone looked at her, shocked at the outburst.

“Thanks,” Matt whispered in passing as Audrey took hold of his arm and deposited him in the nearest chair.

“We need a plan,” Claire continued. “Fight it out later, now is not the time. The longer we stay here the worse off we’ll be. If D.L. and Matt think we should head north then I trust them. We’ll head north. But it has to be now.”

“There’s a colony of sorts,” Audrey said, joining Claire’s side, “up north in New Jersey. Not much is known about it except that there are others, like you, gathering there. Forming their own society outside of the new government.”

“Is it safe?” Ando asked.

“As safe as it gets,” Audrey returned with half a smile. “The militia aren’t patrolling much anymore outside of the major cities. Not like they were at least.”

“What about…” Hiro started, but didn’t finish.

They all knew who he meant.

“Don’t know,” Audrey answered honestly. “We can’t track him. Never could. We haven’t had a confirmed sighting since…”

Her voice trailed off. They all knew what that meant too.

The last two people that had seen Sylar and lived were in the room with them now.

“Let’s get ready then,” Niki said softly after a slight pause.

Everyone set to work immediately. They never entirely unpacked when they moved into a new house, but there was still plenty to be done.

“Audrey,” Matt said, finally able to get back on his feet now that the room had settled, “can we talk?”

She nodded softly and together they stepped into the adjoining room.

“What about you?” he asked as he shut the door behind them.

“What?”

“Come with us,” Matt said eagerly.

Audrey crossed her arms and shook her head, not knowing what to say.

“It’s dangerous for you, too,” he continued. “It’s time you got out of there. For good.”

_‘He’s worried about me.’_

“You and Mohinder,” Matt added quickly. “Both of you. You’ve done enough for us, more than enough. Between the seven of us we can offer you plenty of protection.”

“Oh,” Audrey said flatly. “I don’t know…”

“Matt,” D.L. called from the door, “we need to hurry.”

“I’m coming,” he said over his shoulder, still giving Audrey his full attention.

“I don’t know if I could just drop everything like that. Just take off.”

Matt nodded slowly.

“It would take some planning,” she continued half-heartedly.

“No, of course,” Matt agreed. “It’s not like, well, you’re not… you don’t have a reason to go.”

“Matt…”

“I need to go and help out,” he said, pulling away from her and back towards the main part of the house. “There’s a lot to do. A lot to decide.”

_‘Please, Matt. Not like this.’_

“They need me,” he finished quietly.

_‘I do, too.’_

Matt halted momentarily, hand on the doorknob, before finally pulling it open and walking away like he’d never heard her.

“What’s left to do?” he asked D.L. as soon as he came across him.

“We’re already loading the cars,” the other man supplied. “Micah just has his gear left and that’s about everything.”

“I’ll just go take care of my…”

“Claire’s already got you covered,” D.L. interrupted.

“Okay,” Matt said with a nod.

“Are you?” D.L. asked.

Matt started to protest that he was but gave up and shrugged instead. He felt exhausted. Today had been a long one and he needed some rest. Rest he wasn’t going to get for quite some time.

“You think I’d be used to it by now, huh?” Matt said, trying to pass it off as a joke.

“What,” D.L. fired back, “that gift you got or women?”

Matt laughed.

“Both.”

“Hey guys,” Hiro called out as he entered the room. “I think we’re ready.”

“That was quick,” D.L. commented.

“Got to be a record,” Matt seconded.

“No,” Ando put in, “we just left most of the bags in the garage this time. Next time, I don’t think we should even take them out of the trunks.”

“So,” Niki said, joining them with Micah in tow, “have we decided?”

“Well,” D.L. started hesitantly, “I don’t think we should actually go into New York.”

“Trenton,” Audrey provided. “The colony is near Trenton.”

“Is that okay with everyone?” Matt asked everyone.

No one really felt the need to argue anymore. Wherever they went, as long as they stuck together, they had a feeling they’d be fine.

“Trenton it is,” Matt repeated.

Slowly they made their way out to the garage. There was no need to talk about who would be riding with who. D.L., Niki and Micah always took one car leaving Hiro, Ando, Matt and Claire in the other.

“Matt,” Audrey called out just before he’d left the room.

“We’ll wait,” Claire assured him as she closed off the room.

Matt stopped and turned towards her, not sure what to expect.

“I’ll talk to him, to Mohinder. See if he thinks…”

“If you don’t want to come…”

“It’s not that. It’s really not that I don’t want to.”

_‘Can’t you see I’m scared?’_

“No, I get it. I’m asking too much. I mean, I’ve already asked you to put your job…”

“The job isn’t important to me,” she interrupted. “Not the way it used to be. It’s changed. All of it.”

Matt gave her a quizzical look as Audrey shifted uncomfortable on her feet.

“If I go, there’d be no turning back.”

“I see,” Matt said coldly after a long pause.

“No,” Audrey said with a shake of her head. “I don’t think you do. I don’t mean…”

“Audrey, I understand. You still have a choice. You don’t have to be one of us…”

“Matt, would you listen? Please? That’s not…”

“You don’t have to say any more.”

“No one forces me to do this,” Audrey said.

“And now you don’t have to anymore.”

“Damn it, you are so stubborn. Listen to me. For once, just listen.”

Matt stood quiet, ready to hear her out.

“Here, I’m useful,” she started. “I can get you information and supplies, sometimes things you can’t get for yourself. And I know it isn’t much, but I feel like I’m contributing. That I’m doing something, and not just because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t care about that. I care about you. I care about helping you.”

“Audrey,” Matt said, trying hard to stop her from going on.

“No,” she said, waving him off and then quickly wiping her hand across her eyes. “No. Let me just say this.”

Matt nodded briskly, but couldn’t look at her anymore.

“I’ve done everything I can for you and I haven’t ever asked for anything in return. Not once. I’ve never complained. I’ve had no ulterior motives. No hidden agendas. I’ve always been honest with you, because… because you’re important to me.”

“Please don’t…”

_‘Please don’t what? Don’t tell you?’_

“Don’t cry,” he answered, stepping closer and tentatively bringing his hands to her shoulders. 

“If you asked me to come because you want me there,” Audrey said, looking him straight in the eyes, “I will. I’ll go.”

Matt pulled her completely into his arms, unable to help himself. Holding her tight and never wanting to let go.

“But if you’re only asking me because you think you have to,” Audrey continued in a near whisper, “because you feel like you owe me, or have to protect me, then just don’t. Don’t ask. I don’t want you to pay me back. I never wanted anything in return but your trust.”

“I do,” he said, moving to rest his forehead to hers, his hand in her hair. It was his turn to look her in the eyes. “I do. Never doubt that. I know I haven’t shown it. It’s hard for me… after all this… But you, I’ve never doubted. Not once.”

Audrey smiled a funny half-smile at him, still uncertain.

“Come with us,” he asked. “Please. Come with me.”

“Okay,” she mouthed, blinking the tears out of her eyes with a genuine smile on her lips.

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling broadly now himself.

“Yes,” she answered firmly with a crisp laugh attached at the end.

“Good,” he returned, finishing it off with the kiss he’d been waiting to give her for a long, long time.


	4. Refuge

“You’re awfully smiley.”

Matt turned to Claire, puzzled not just by the smile that had crept onto her face, but by the blush he couldn’t seem to keep off of his.

“What?” he asked, trying to ignore what had to have been a chuckle out of both Hiro and Ando in the front seat.

“Smiley,” Claire repeated. “You. We’ve been on the road now for half an hour and you haven’t stopped smiling once.”

“And that’s different from how I normally am?”

“Yes,” Claire said with a laugh, “it is. Very different. Nice, but different.”

Matt shook his head at her, at himself, but the smile still came back.

“So,” Claire continued, “I take it you worked things out with Audrey?”

“Yes,” Matt answered, “she’s going to follow us tomorrow. Pack a few things. Get Mohinder out as well.”

Claire fixed him with a knowing look. Matt tried to resume looking out the window, but couldn’t as she continued to watch him.

Smirking.

“Well,” Matt said to try and turn the conversation, “how long is this trip going to take?”

“D.L. wasn’t certain,” Ando said from behind the wheel. “We can’t take the interstates, so it’s going to be awhile.”

Matt nodded, but couldn’t think of anything else to ask.

And Claire was still giving him that look.

“Stop it,” he finally said with a laugh.

“Tell me what happened and I will,” she returned.

“That’s not… it doesn’t concern you… so, you know… mind your own business.”

“When I have my own business to mind I will,” Claire retorted. “Until then, I plan to live vicariously through yours.”

“Not going to happen,” Matt said, looking straight ahead, shaking his head with a decided ‘no’.

“Oh come on,” Claire begged. “Just tell me…”

Matt suddenly grabbing hold of her shoulder stopping her immediately.

“Why are they slowing down?” Hiro asked, looking first at Ando and then back at Matt.

The car carrying the others was just ahead of them, almost stopped in the road.

“It’s just a check point,” Ando said, sounding as if he was trying to reassure himself.

“No,” Matt said slowly, “I don’t think…”

Before he could finish speaking his thought out loud the car Niki was driving took off, ramming the barricade in its path, and speeding away.

It didn’t get far.

Still not comfortable with the sensation, Matt blinked several times and took in a long pull of air.

“I wish you’d warn us before you did that,” he said to Hiro.

“There was no time,” he responded, already getting out of the car and hurrying towards the scene.

With hour upon hour of practice, Hiro had finally managed to not just stop time for himself, but for a select few around him. Four people were the most he could manage, himself included. It was much more difficult to pull off, and he found that the more people he chose to remain unfrozen, the shorter the duration of the freeze. 

Matt was out of the car immediately after him, following closely behind.

“This is why she ran,” Matt said, pointing to the man he spotted in the bushes with an automatic rifle. “Check point guards aren’t usually this well armed. Or camouflaged.”

As they discussed it, Claire was busy taking the few bags they had out of their car and heading towards the other. Ando, for his part, was aiming what would soon be their empty vehicle towards the area where most of the militia was; taking special care to wedge down the gas pedal as well.

“This looks like a trap,” Matt said, having just cut the tires on the four Jeeps that had been hidden just behind the check point station booth.

“But for who?” Hiro asked, following after him and quickly turning off each engine, removing and tossing the keys as far away as possible. “Not us. They were raiding our house tonight.”

“They could have set up this up just in case,” Ando added.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Claire said, handing off some of the bags to the others.

“Good idea,” Hiro said with a nod. 

The four of them hurried to the other, now stationary, car.

“Hurry,” Hiro urged. “I don’t think I can keep it up much longer.”

That was all anyone needed to hear.

Ando got in first, taking most of the bags and throwing them in the very back seat of the large SUV. Once everything was inside, Hiro got in next.

Claire knew something was off from his expression. As soon as Hiro sat down, he turned to her with a look of shock. It was just then that the world shifted, or so it seemed.

For a split second the world stuttered back to life before halting once more.

“Get in!” Hiro yelled. “Now! Claire, Matt! Get in!”

With no time to fight it, Matt practically dragged Claire to the car that was now several feet away from where it had just been.

Hiro reached out his hand to Claire. Now both he and Ando were yelling, encouraging them to move faster.

Matt, not thinking about himself, pushed Claire forward first, up towards the open door, but it was too late.

Just as Claire got her foot on the sidebar, the vehicle screamed away, the momentum knocking her and Matt to the ground.

At first they were both too stunned to do anything.

“Come on,” Matt said, recovering his senses as he shot to his feet.

Claire followed without question and quickly they rushed off the road. The best they could do was to hide and wait.

Fortunately, the militia who had previously been poised to chase them was now thoroughly detained. All the commotion they had caused had been worth it.

“What are we going to do?” Claire whispered, fearfully watching the chaos they’d caused unfold from a too close distance.

Matt didn’t answer.

Instead, he silently took in the area. It was wooded, but not heavily. Not the best cover but it was all they had.

“Let’s go,” he said as he tugged gently on her elbow.

Claire could hardly believe he was serious.

“We have to move,” he said firmly. “If we stay here they’re find us for certain.”

“Okay,” Claire said hesitantly.

_‘I trust you,’_ her internal monologue echoed.

_‘I know.’_

“Don’t do that,” Claire admonished, trying to shake off the eerie feeling it left her with.

Matt gave her a smile before taking her by the hand and leading the way.

They ended up walking for nearly an hour straight, crossing three smaller roads and one minor stream, before coming upon civilization in the form of a house.

“It looks lived in,” Claire said.

Matt nodded. He thought so too. Even without any lights on, sometimes you could just tell when a house was occupied.

Claire didn’t bother asking if he could hear anyone or not. She knew they were too far away for that.

“So, now what?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We need a phone to call the rest. But I don’t know…”

“We could knock.”

“And say what exactly?” he shot back.

“The truth,” she answered. “That we had car trouble.”

Matt stared at her in disbelief.

“Well, have you’ve got a better idea?”

“No.”

“Okay then.”

“Alright,” Matt said beginning to move towards the house but not sounding entirely convinced.

“Besides,” Claire reasoned, “you’ll be able to tell if something is wrong.”

“True,” he agreed. “But knowing what they’re going to do isn’t the same as being able to stop them from doing it.”

“You can always hide behind me.”

Matt stopped dead in his tracks.

“I’m not going to hide behind you.”

“Why not?”

Matt shook his head and muttered as he picked up his pace, determined now to reach the house first.

“Really, why not? They can’t hurt me. It would be safer.”

“I’m not hiding behind a girl,” Matt said as he knocked loudly on the door.

“I’m not a girl,” Claire argued.

“You know what I mean.”

Claire clicked her tongue impatiently at him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“And that doesn’t make you look any older,” he commented.

Claire put her arms back down but refused to wipe the scowl off her face. Matt knocked once more, louder this time and nearly jumped back a foot when the door flew open.

“What is it?” an elderly man carrying a shot gun hollered out to them.

“Sorry to disturb you,” Matt began.

“Then you shouldn’t have knocked.”

“Sir,” Claire tried, “can we use your phone? Our car broke down and we just needed to call some friends.”

“We don’t have a phone. Not a working one. Hardly anyone around here does. Phones are luxuries few can afford.”

_‘And you’re a horrible liar little lady.’_

“Do you know where we…”

Claire didn’t finish the question as the man began shaking his head midway through.

“Most of this area is deserted. Like most everywhere else I imagine. Nearest populated place is Baltimore.” 

_‘She’s a cute thing. Familiar. Where have I seen her before?’_

Matt watched uneasily as the man continued to stare hard at Claire.

“Thanks anyway,” Matt said, eager to put an end to this. It had been a horrible idea. He should have known better than to approach perfect strangers, but exhaustion got the best of him. He could hardly think straight.

“Wait a minute,” the man called out as they turned to go. “I can’t offer you a phone but I can offer you a place to sleep. It’s not safe out at night, not anymore. Tomorrow morning I’ll drive you down to Baltimore myself, first thing.”

Claire looked at Matt uncertainly. Waiting for him to make the decision.

_‘Poor folks. They look dead on their feet.’_

“Thanks,” Matt said. “That would be really nice of you.”


	5. Control

Niki had done the only thing she could do at the time.

Typically all of the check points were on the interstates, which is exactly why they’d chosen the back roads. They had only once before been caught up like this, but even then she’d been able to talk her way out of it.

As she slowed the cars she could tell immediately that wouldn’t be the case tonight.

And then, just as she stopped the car, she saw just what Matt had supposed she had seen. The man with the gun.

Not thinking about the car behind them, she floored it, racing away. There was no time to think about them, only time to react. If she didn’t get moving now she’d never get the chance.

Besides, there was always the contingency plan.

In case of trouble, serious trouble, Hiro would freeze time long enough for them to all regroup.

Niki had thought she was doing not just the only thing but the right thing until, in the blink of an eye, the car was filled with noise.

“Stop the car!” Hiro yelled causing D.L. and Micah to jump in their seats. “Stop! Go back!”

“They didn’t make it in!” Ando yelled, looking frantically out of the rear window.

“Where are Claire and Matt?” D.L. asked anxiously, more disturbed by their absence than by the others sudden appearance.

“Mom you have to stop!” Micah shouted, the first of his family to fully comprehend what was going on.

“We can’t stop,” Niki shouted back. “We stop and they get us all. I’m not letting that happen.”

“Niki,” D.L. started to argue, but saw the determination in her eyes.

“Did they make it off the road?” she asked, oddly calm.

“Yes,” Ando nodded, still looking back down the road even though they were now to far away to see anything. “I think so.”

“If they did then they’ll call us,” Niki continued. “If not, well…”

“We can’t just…”

“Micah,” Niki said, quickly cutting him off, “I don’t like it either but that’s the way it is. We have to do what we have to do to survive.”

****

Audrey had driven on the interstates on her way back to D.C. Having all the correct and legal credentials, and the authority to be out after curfew, she wasn’t worried about being stopped. Her only concern was being followed. She rarely visited them inside their chosen safe house, but when she did she took extra care to take as many twists and turns as possible and to always be on the look out for anything suspicious.

Everything seemed to be going well until she took the final left onto the street that led to her apartment complex.

Audrey looked up in surprise at the flashing lights in her rearview mirror. She’d never even seen the patrol car.

Sighing, she pulled the car over and took her identification out of her bag; waiting for the approaching officer.

It wasn’t a long wait.

“I’ve got clearance,” she said as she rolled down the window and handing her badge and card out to him.

He said nothing, just scrutinized the information in his hands.

“Step out of the car,” he finally returned.

“But...”

“Out,” he said in a firmer voice.

That was when she began to worry. Audrey got out of the car, not sure what she should do. Knowing what it probably meant, hoping she was wrong.

“There must be some mix-up,” Audrey tried. “I work for the government. My card is good.”

“Audrey Hanson?” he asked her.

“Yes, that’s…”

“Then there’s no mistake. You’re under arrest.”

For the next two hours she sat handcuffed and alone in a nondescript room she assumed was a holding cell. It was hard to say anymore, things had changed so much. Her job didn’t entail capturing criminals anymore. Mostly she sat at a desk. Even though she had seemingly distanced herself from her once partner, no one had forgotten that she had known him. Law enforcement had changed. Everything had changed. 

Of course, it didn’t all begin with the explosion.

Ted Sprague had done a lot of damage on his trek across the country. It was impossible to tell just how many people he had poisoned with radiation. They never would know, not now at least; the country was still in shambles. 

Despite their fears, he wasn’t the ultimate cause of the explosion they’d all been trying to stop. The rumor was that he had taken his own life overcome with remorse. 

Rumor was all they had.

Rumors of a woman who could change faces. A man who could walk through walls. A girl who couldn’t die.

A modern day bogeyman that ate his victim’s brains.

And then it had happened.

Audrey didn’t know what was worse, the event or the aftermath.

The explosion had been terrifying. Hundreds of thousands were killed. The city was destroyed. No one knew how or why. The waiting and wondering. Knowing Matt had been there - had been there when it had happened. Remembering how she’d asked him not to go, and how he’d gone anyway because a man who could paint the future had told him he was supposed to be there. Not hearing from him. Not knowing if he was dead or alive. Grieving. The shock of the loss. The massive loss of it all. The senselessness. The changes.

The United States had gone from democracy to near totalitarianism with frightening ease.

At first, they had been grateful. All of them. Amid the chaos and destruction and uncertainty a select few had stepped forward to lead the way. To lead the nation out of dark times.

They had needed guidance more than anything else.

The first year had been a rough one. Audrey hardly remembered it. The impact was so great. She felt lucky to have her job, to be a part of the restoration effort. Lucky to have survived.

But then the laws began to be passed. 

Registration. Curfews. Special rights. Internment.

The United States of America emerged after a long, hard year as the United Order.

Stronger. More Secure. Cruel.

The Order was a much smaller place, much less populated than the previous country had been. Most of the west coast had been destroyed in a series of massive earthquakes that had lit up the ring of fire. Earthquakes, rumor had it, that were caused by ‘one of them’.

That was how the Order referred to people like Matt. He was ‘one of them’. Not special, not gifted, not a hero, nothing but an outsider to be classified and contained. 

The very people who had tried to stop it all…

Large parts of the former United States had defected, revolted, had gone against the system. The Order mainly consisted of all of the former states east of the Mississippi River and south of the state of New York, not including Florida. Florida was deemed unlivable due to massive flooding, blamed of course on ‘one of them’.

Most of them were nothing more than a series of city-states, except Texas. Texas was the only former state both large enough and intact enough to merit the status of country. The newly emerged Republic of Texas was a strong ally.

As for the rest of the world, Audrey couldn’t say. There was no telling. If rumor was any indication, it hadn’t faired any better.

That first year had been the worst. She felt like she had lost everything, everything that mattered at least. Audrey had no hope left.

She just existed, just did what needed to be done to survive.

That’s what she told herself.

Audrey was roused from her thoughts as the door swung open.

She tried not to look surprised but was certain she had not succeeded.

“Hello, Audrey. It’s been quite some time since we last met.”

“Three years,” she said coolly. “It’s been three years.”

“I’m glad you remember.”

“It’s not often you meet a dictator.”

Nathan Petrelli shook his head a smiled at her in what could be considered charming way.

“That’s not nice.”

“I’m sorry,” she bit back, “do you prefer some other title?”

“I’m sure you know why you’re here.”

“Like you need an excuse to arrest people.”

“I need something from you,” Nathan continued, as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “I need to know where Claire Bennet is.”

“I don’t know anyone by that name.”

“See,’ he said pacing the room, “now you’re lying.”

“Is that your talent? Are you a walking lie detector now?”

Nathan grimaced briefly as he shook off her accusations.

“Claire Bennet,” he repeated. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about Matthew Parkman? Do you know where he is?”

“That’s not really my job. I don’t track down fugitives anymore.”

“But you associate with them,” Nathan replied smoothly. “We know you do. We’ve been watching you now for the last six months. Watching you very closely.”

Nathan stopped and stared at her, fixed her with an intense gaze.

“How long have you been helping him and his friends? A year? A year and a half? It couldn’t be more than two years, before we had confirmation that he’d survived. Am I right?”

Her silence was resolute.

“Tell me where Claire Bennet is. She’s the only one we want. I don’t care about Parkman or Nakamura or Sanders. They rest of them aren’t important, but Claire Bennet is. You tell me where I can find her and they all walk free. No trial. No internment. Nothing. I’ll even let you go with them if you’d like.”

Audrey kept her mouth shut, content to look her displeasure.

“I’m giving you a golden opportunity here,” Nathan continued. “One you should seriously consider. One I won’t repeat.”

“Why?” Audrey asked. “Why her?”

“She’s special.”

“To you or to someone else?”

Nathan stopped as if considering how much to say.

“Her family misses her.”

“Okay,” Audrey said after a lengthy pause. “Suppose I do tell you where you can find her. Why should I believe you? You’re a liar, Nathan.”

“I promise you…”

“Is that the same promise you made Simone Deveaux last year?” Audrey interrupted. “’Tell me where Claire Bennet is and Isaac Mendez can walk free?’ Was that it? You must really be desperate if you’re willing to let them all go this time.”

“Simone was a poor choice. Couldn’t be trusted. Mistakes are sometimes made when you are forging a new nation.”

“Mistakes? Isaac is dead,” she said bluntly. “And where is Simone? Locked up indefinitely for being a, what is that term again?”

“Enemy of the Order,” Nathan provided.

“That’s the one,” Audrey returned. “It’s hard to keep track nowadays.”

“I’m disappointed in you,” he said quietly through the icy silence. “I thought you could be reasoned with. I thought you’d want to help your country.”

“My country died three years ago.”

“Fine,” Nathan said, pacing the room and obviously disgruntled. “We are going to find them. We know that right now they are on the run because of false information you gave them tonight. We might not know exactly where they are heading, but that doesn’t matter. We’ve got the manpower and means to stop them and I guarantee you, the only one of them walking away from this now with be Claire Bennet.”


	6. Relief

_“He’s coming.”_

_The sky was orange and the streets were deadly silent._

_“He’s coming.”_

_Claire turned to him, shaking her head._

_“No, it’s too soon. He can’t…”_

_“He’s coming!” Matt yelled as Claire and Peter stared back at him in disbelief. “I can hear him, I can already hear him in my head! We’ve got to get out of here!”_

_The wind picked up dramatically, whipping around them._

_“We’ll never make it,” Claire said frantically._

_…_

Matt’s eyes flew open.

For a moment he hadn’t remembered where he was, but it all came back quick enough.

Checking his watch he was surprised that only a few hours had passed. The sun would be up soon, but Matt knew he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep again.

He was too anxious.

Matt snuck a look at Claire who was still sound asleep beside him, but not peacefully. She seemed to be muttering but what he couldn’t say.

He was amazed she was still asleep at all. Claire’s unique regeneration powers had over the past year enabled her to function with little real rest. At most she caught three hours of sleep a night, and it was all she seemed to need. So far, it was the only way they’d seen her change.

They had all changed in some way or another, evolved as Mohinder liked to say.

Matt couldn’t help but wonder when it was going to stop. If it was going to stop.

It had been three years and Matt still felt like it was controlling him instead of the other way around. The headaches were now an everyday occurrence; so regular that he could almost ignore them. Almost. Some days they were worse than others. Some days he didn’t think he could get out of bed because of them. But, even then, that wasn’t the worst of it.

He still hadn’t learned how to entirely block people out. The stronger the emotions were behind the thoughts, the harder it became. Certain people, no matter what, he couldn’t tune out entirely for any reason. Their voices just wouldn’t go away.

And now he could push his thoughts into others. 

It was scary.

Matt didn’t want that this. He worried about what he might be able to do next. What was the natural progression for a man who could read minds?

It was very scary.

Stealing another glance at Claire, he thought he might already know.

Matt hadn’t dreamt in years, not anything he could remember; certainly nothing about that day.

But Claire on the other hand…

The sound of footsteps approaching caught his attention. As he thought they would, whoever was making the noise stopped just outside the door.

Straining to hear something, anything, all he caught was, ‘…who they are…’

Seeing the doorknob move slightly, Matt got to his feet. It was best he could do to prepare for whatever was about to come.

“Kyle,” he heard a woman say in hushed tones, “you were told to leave them alone. You can ask questions later. Let them sleep.”

At the meek, “Yes, mom” that followed, Matt breathed a sigh of relief.

“What’s happening?”

Matt turned quickly, startled by Claire’s question.

“Nothing,” he assured her, moving back across the room and sitting down on the edge of the bed. “It’s nothing.”

“But you heard…”

“A kid,” he said with a shake of his head, “just a kid.”

Before Claire could ask anything else there was a short series of taps on the door.

Matt was up again, opening the door with some hesitation. Wondering if Kyle’s curiosity had gotten the best of him.

“Good,” the man that had let them in last night said, “you’re up. Come down to breakfast.”

Matt had no time to agree or argue with him, he was gone that quick.

“That was just…”

“Strange,” Matt supplied for Claire as he shut the door behind him.

“So,” Claire asked as she got out of bed, “do we go down to breakfast?”

“I’m not sure we have a choice,” Matt answered.

“I don’t like this.”

“Me either.”

Breakfast was an interesting event. 

They finally found out the name of the man who had let them in last night, it was Vincent. It was his house they were in along with several other people, all of whom he seemed to like about as much as he did Claire and Matt; not much. Vincent had a wife named Mary who seemed awfully nervous throughout the meal, which in turn made Matt extremely nervous. He wanted to know what was causing it but there were so many people that he couldn’t filter out her thoughts amid the crowd. 

After that there were two men whose names he never caught who made Matt nervous in a different way. They kept staring at Claire, but not in the way Vincent had last night. It was much more lecherous. And the thoughts, they were even worse. Claire didn’t seem to like it either and kept inching her chair closer and closer to Matt’s, hoping they’d take it as a hint. They didn’t until Matt finally shot them a look. That finally stopped their gazes, but did nothing for their thoughts.

Then there was Kyle and his mom Carol. Kyle was the main reason Matt couldn’t hear anyone else clearly, the boy would not stop. He wouldn’t stop talking and he wouldn’t stop thinking. Loudly. It was like nothing he’d ever heard before. It was making Matt’s head positively throb until he thought he might be sick.

“I asked you a question,” Kyle said, tugging on Matt’s arm for the third time in five minutes. “Mister, I asked you something. Can’t you hear?”

“Kyle,” his mother said sharply.

“What?” Matt asked, just now realizing the words had all been spoken out loud.

“I said, what can you do?” Kyle repeated loudly. “Miss Mary says you know magic and I want to see a trick. Can you do tricks?”

“Magic?” Matt repeated, looking cautiously from Kyle to Mary who had stopped dead in her tracks.

_‘That damn boy.’_

_‘Oh God, they’re on to us. What if they’re dangerous?’_

_‘I knew I should have called sooner.’_

“The last people who stayed with us that could do magic and made the lights turn on and off,” Kyle continued, oblivious the turmoil he’d caused. “Can you do that too? That was cool.”

Matt and Claire were on their feet in an instant.

“Sit down,” Vincent said, on his feet with surprising agility. He had the shot gun out and trained on them.

“Vincent,” Mary said, her voice wavering. “Don’t. Remember what happened…”

“These two can’t hurt us,” Vincent assured her. “If they could, they’d have done it already. Isn’t that right?”

Matt shook his head in disbelief.

“Really?” Claire shot back as she took a defiant step forward, placing herself nearly in front of Matt.

_‘She’s got to be bluffing.’_

Matt reached up and took hold of Claire’s shoulder, gently tugging her back.

“We don’t want trouble,” he said calmly. “Just let us go.”

_‘She’s lying; has to be. She can’t be that strong.’_

“No,” Vincent said, but his voice didn’t sound as steady as it once had. “Can’t do that. They’re already on their way for you. And don’t tell me you’re not like the rest. Only one reason people run around at night anymore. You’re hardly the first to try it.”

“Then tell them we got away. Say anything you want. By the time…”

But Vincent was already shaking his head ‘no’.

“They’d find out,” Vincent explained. “They always do. The ones that don’t run away end up working for them. We’ve got to live too, you know. It’s nothing personal, but it’s the only way we can earn anything anymore.”

_‘It’s the only way they’ll leave us alone.’_

Claire wanted to rush him. She wanted to rush Vincent, force him to shoot her and then Matt could take the gun and they could be off.

She thought it over and over, turning and staring even, but either Matt couldn’t hear her over the confusion in the air or he wouldn’t.

The only inkling she had of her message getting through was the steady increase of pressure on her shoulder, of Matt holding her tighter into place.

But Claire persisted. She kept thinking it over and over until finally she heard him snap back in her own head with a sharp, ‘No.’

She wanted to scream.

Even though he knew she could heal herself Matt would never willingly let her be hurt. He’d never let her put herself in harms way.

So she relented.

They sat in silence for another half hour before the militia arrived.

After a series of questions, which neither of them answered, they were handcuffed and placed in the back of a truck with three armed guards watching them.

_‘They don’t know who we are.’_

Claire briefly made eye contact with Matt; up until now she’d been too angry to do even that.

Matt gave her a slight nod and she understood. They were in trouble, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. They hadn’t been able to identify them and were either too lazy or too overworked to check their general descriptions against the master list.

It was a huge relief.


	7. Caged

Niki had finally pulled over when she was certain they were not being followed, a good sixty miles from where they’d been ambushed.

Spotting a deserted looking auto repair shop in a town that had certainly seen better days, she pulled the car over so that they could decide what to do next.

“We need to go back,” was the first thing out of Hiro’s mouth. “We can’t leave them back there.”

“Yes,” Ando added. “We have to go back. They wouldn’t have…”

“We don’t know what they would or wouldn’t have done,” Niki interrupted harshly. “They’re not here.”

“Niki,” D.L. urged, “please. Let’s not do this now. Let’s just work out a plan…”

“The plan is what it has always been,” she continued. “We’ve always agreed that if any one of us ever got caught, that was it. They were on their own until they could make their way back. End of story.”

“Well,” D.L. said, “until now it’s all been talk. It’s a different thing…”

“No,” she said forcefully, “it’s not. It’s not a different thing. What are we supposed to do? Go back and what exactly? Rescue them?”

No one answered.

“There are five of us,” Niki said plaintively. “Five against how many? An army? No, I’m sorry. Not me. Not my son.”

“Mom,” Micah started.

“No,” Niki said sharply, wheeling round on him.

“They could have gotten away,” D.L. said half-heartedly.

“Even if they did, how are they supposed to find us? Or call us,” Micah asked, undeterred by his mother’s stern gaze. “I’m the one that made the phones work. They can’t do that. They’ll have no way…”

“Enough,” Niki said. “That’s… that’s enough. I liked Matt and Claire as much as the rest of you, but there is nothing we can do for them now.”

Hiro and Ando exchanged a brief, dark look.

“Nothing,” Niki repeated quietly.

****

The first time they stopped it was brief. Nothing more than to fill up the trucks they were being transported in and give the men guarding them a break.

Once they were alone Claire had started to speak but Matt just shook his head at her before nodding significantly at the back of the truck. She understood, they might be listening. They couldn’t risk it.

Still, she had to say something. He looked sick and she was worried.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“I’m fine,” he managed, pressing his head into his hands. “It’s just a headache.”

Claire didn’t say anymore, she knew how bad they could get. Instead, she did the only thing she could do for him, she tried to clear her mind. The less noise the better.

After another hour on the road they stopped again. This time a guard stayed with them and when the others returned they had three more prisoners.

Two men and one woman.

One of the men wasn’t going quietly. He was ranting and raving about his rights. That he wasn’t even one of them. Everything he could think of he was trying.

None of it made a difference.

Claire didn’t make eye contact with them, but as soon as the truck started moving again the woman began to stare at her in an attempt to get her attention. Claire just ignored her.

“Hey,” the man who had put up the fight said loudly, “I think that guy is sick. Hey, you. Henderson, isn’t it? That guy is sick. Aren’t you going to do something?”

“We’ll be there in half an hour.”

“In thirty minutes he might be dead,” the man argued. “I bet your tests won’t work on him if he’s dead.”

“Shut up, Jacobs,” the guard shouted. “No one is falling for it.”

“Sir,” the other guard piped up, “I think he’s right. That guy, he doesn’t…”

“Enough,” the third and obviously most senior guard said. “We’ll be there soon. So what if he dies. Saves us the trouble.”

Claire glared at the man before turning again to Matt to see just how bad it was.

“I’m fine. It’s just so loud,” he said in a near whisper. 

Words she was certain he had meant just for her.

The woman who was now sitting next to Matt heard it as well, causing her to stare now not just at Claire but at Matt as well.

“Move,” Claire said loudly, wobbling to her feet in the still moving truck.

“What are you doing?” the guard named Henderson asked as he raised his gun.

“I’m trading seats,” Claire shot back, motioning with her head for the woman to get out of her way.

“Sit down,” Henderson yelled a little too late.

The woman had already moved willingly and Claire was in her spot in half a second.

“Take it easy,” she whispered to Matt. “Just lean on me, okay? It’ll be over soon.”

He obliged, mumbling something she couldn’t make out.

“What’s wrong with him?” the woman leaned in and whispered to her.

“What do you think is wrong with him?” the man they’d called Jacobs answered for her. “We’re all being held without reason or cause. It’s a travesty. It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach.”

Claire heard Matt let out a low chuckle and felt relieved.

“So,” Jacobs continued, addressing himself to the guards once more. “Where to this time?”

No one answered him.

“Now, let’s not be rude,” Jacobs continued to prod. “Certainly you can tell us that much.”

The guards were still resolutely ignoring him.

“Testing? Interment? Doesn’t matter,” Jacobs said with an air of indifference. “I’ll be out before sundown.”

“Not this time,” Henderson answered.

Claire watched the exchange with some interest. Jacobs wasn’t a tall man, probably in his mid-fifties, extremely wiry looking and almost completely bald. But despite being handcuffed and obviously at a disadvantage, he looked at perfect ease.

“Haven’t made a jail that can hold me yet,” Jacobs chided.

“But we still keep catching you.”

“Only because I like the game,” the older man returned, giving Claire a wink as he noticed her watching.

The truck finally rolled to a stop and the guards began hustling them out into a large fenced in yard.

Claire got out easily enough, even handcuffed, but Matt was another story.

Still weak from the exertion of the day, he stumbled not once, but twice, finally landing on his knees and squinting from the still harsh daylight.

“Come on,” Claire said, kneeling beside him and doing her best to help him up.

It wasn’t enough. Claire just wasn’t strong enough to do it alone, not handcuffed and not as weak as Matt suddenly seemed. And the guards wouldn’t help, refused to do anything but either look the other way or laugh.

“Here,” Jacobs said, pulling Matt to his feet from the other side, “just take it easy. Don’t want to get left behind. You’ll miss all the fun.”

The fun turned out to be anything but.

The men were first separated from the women. Claire had reluctantly gone along with it. Matt seemed a little better but she felt a sense of dread, like she might not see him again. Jacobs reassured her some that this was all routine and that they’d all be back together shortly, but she was still uneasy. 

And she wasn’t the only one. The other woman, Anne, got nearly hysterical and started yelling for Lionel, the other man they had picked up. Finally, she let out a blood curling scream that shattered four light bulbs before a man in a lab coat gave her an injection of something which seemed to calm her down quite a bit.

After Anne was moving again, much slower than before, the handcuffs were removed and they were taken to a set of showers and given five minutes to clean up and get dressed again into a pair of orange jumpsuits.

Next it was photographs and fingerprinting followed by a blood test.

The blood test worried Claire the most. Apparently the tech either didn’t notice or didn’t care that the needle didn’t seem to be able to break her skin. It was only after he had to practically stab her with it that he was able to get any blood at all. She was healed again before he even got her bandaged up. Claire thought that was it, that they had to know now, but he only gave her a strange look before applying the bandage anyway.

Finally they were led into a large room that had probably once been a gymnasium and was now filled with cots and people.

Claire scanned the room, relieved when she spotted Matt who was already making his way towards her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she assured him. “But shouldn’t I be asking you that? I was really worried, you looked…”

“I’m fine. It got better once I got away from them,” Matt returned, but wouldn’t elaborate.

“Do you know where we are?” she asked.

“That guy, Jacobs, says we’re in New Jersey,” Matt answered. “An old college the Order uses as a testing site. He’s been here before, says it’s fairly low security. But, we’ve got another problem.”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Didn’t they take your fingerprints?”

“Yeah, so?”

“So,” Matt returned, “I’m in the system. I worked for the FBI, Claire. They’re going to know who I am. Soon. And if they know who I am, they’re going to have a good idea as to who you are.”

“That’s it then? This… this is it?” Claire asked fearfully.

“No,” Matt said firmly. “No, I think we can get out of here.”


	8. Searching

Micah had gone to work immediately.

He’d spent nearly the entire day setting up his laptops, fixing the power supply, connecting to the infrastructure and searching through all the latest prisoner records.

There were a lot to go through and the process was time consuming, but he knew it had to be done.

He would be hard pressed to explain to anyone exactly how he did what he did. Actually, Micah imagined all of them would. It wasn’t something you could explain. It was instinctive, like blinking. Or breathing. That was a better way of thinking of it; it was like breathing. It was an integral part of who he was, it defined him and he embraced it.

Even though he was only thirteen the rest of them had always treated him like an equal. He was never excluded from the conversation or denied a chance to help. True, his mother did sometimes put her foot down, but Micah knew she had only the best of intentions.

But good intentions don’t always yield good results.

“I think I found them,” Micah said as the sun began to go down again.

“Where?” Hiro asked, rushing over to see what the young man had dug up.

“Wait,” Micah said, straining to stare at the screen. His hands hovering just above the keyboard. “Wait. Oh… no. No, they’re checking their fingerprints. They’re sending out their photos. They don’t know who they are yet. They’ve…”

“What?” Ando asked hurriedly. “What is it?”

“They know,” Micah said turning to the rest of them. “Matt’s fingerprints were in their database. They know who he is. The system…”

Micah stopped talking and turned back to the keyboard with a frantic speed. He was trying hard to override the results, to intercept the verification, but with no luck.

“I couldn’t stop it,” he said throwing his hands up in disgust. “I wasn’t quick enough.”

“It’s not your fault,” D.L. said reassuringly, patting him on the shoulder. “You tried. Matt’s a smart guy. He’ll get out of it. Both of them will.”

Micah didn’t say anything in return; instead he pulled the confirmation page he knew was being shown at a detention center somewhere in New Jersey.

The page that not only confirmed Matt Parkman’s identity, but ordered his immediate transfer back to the capital where he was to await execution.

****

Henry Jacobs loved the idea.

“It is what I do best,” he said to Matt after hearing what the younger man had in mind. “I’ve broken out five or six times now, twice out of here. It should be fun. When do you want to do it?”

“The sooner the better,” Matt urged.

“What’s the hurry? We can go whenever you’d like,” Jacobs said as if they were planning a trip to the movies. “Personally, I’m famished. The food isn’t bad. Let’s wait till after dinner.”

“No,” Matt said shaking his head, “we need to go now. Right now.”

“Oh,” Jacobs said with a knowing look, “you must be trouble. I like trouble.”

_‘Is he nuts?’_ he heard loudly from Claire.

“Well, are we going to invite anyone else,” Jacobs asked, “or will it just be us?”

“More might be better,” Claire offered. “More confusion. More cover.”

“Yeah,” Matt said with a short nod, “besides, that woman who came in with us, she might be a good distraction.”

“That was quite a shriek she gave,” Jacobs added.

“I’ll let her know,” Claire said.

“Young lady,” Jacobs said before she got far, “not too loudly. We don’t want to raise suspicion.”

Claire gave him a quick smile before she was on her way.

“Good thinking,” Matt said.

“Like I’ve said,” Jacobs returned, “I’ve done this before.”

“So, where do you…”

“I have to ask you something first,” Jacobs interrupted.

Matt felt his insides clench. He’d been afraid of this, but really there’d been no choice. They had to have help. There was no way he and Claire could escape on their own.

“Have you heard of the colony just north of here?”

Matt hadn’t been prepared for that.

“Yeah,” Matt said with a short nod.

“I’ve been there,” Jacobs said, for the first time sounding dead serious. “It’s an interesting place. Lots of our kind. Lots more than the Order would like to believe.”

“I’m not sure what this has to do with escaping,” Matt returned.

“I think this is going to be my last escape,” Jacobs said, ignoring Matt’s last remark. “I think I’m going to head north and retire. You should come with me. Both of you.”

_‘We could use you.’_

“For what?” Matt asked.

Jacobs didn’t answer, just smiled oddly back at Matt and brought his finger to his lips in a ‘hushing’ gesture as Claire returned with Anne and Lionel in tow.

“They’re in,” she said shortly.

“Excellent,” Jacobs said, his voice once again jovial and light. “Let’s begin.”

****

“Get up.”

Audrey gave the guard at door of her cell a contemptuous look.

“Now,” he repeated loudly. “On you’re feet. You’ve got a visitor.”

“I didn’t think I was allowed visitors,” Audrey said as she reluctantly did as she’d been told.

“Well it must be your lucky day.”

The only person it could be, Audrey imagined, was Nathan. Back again to try and weasel more information out of her. It didn’t matter; she rather enjoyed the fact that he was wasting his time this way. She was never going to tell him anything.

She wouldn’t do that to Matt.

Handcuffed and alone again, she waited in the same sterile room as before, but the wait was short this time.

As the door opened, Audrey felt like the room had tilted. She was nauseous and sweaty. There was no explanation for it.

It took her a minute to regain her composure and when she did she was startled to find Mohinder in the room with her.

She started to question how he’d gotten in, how he’d even known where to look for her but he beat her to the punch.

“Nathan called me,” the man said, taking a seat across the table from her. “He thought I might get you to see reason.”

“Mohinder, what are you talking about?”

“We need Claire Bennet, Audrey. Where are they headed?”

“We?” Audrey asked still confused and a bit dizzy. “Since when are you part of this? Mohinder, I thought…”

“We’re all apart of this,” he said and that feeling of tilting, of being on the edge of a cliff returned.

“I don’t know where they’re going,” she said as strongly as she could. “They wouldn’t tell me. They don’t trust anyone that isn’t one of them.”

“That’s a lie, Audrey.”

“No,” she said shaking her head, “it’s not. It’s not a lie.”

In the room next door three men sat around a video monitor watching the interview.

“It’s not working,” one man said. “She was expecting this, or something like this. It’s too difficult for Jenny to fool her conscience mind. The hallucinations aren’t working.”

“Then why do we keep her around,” said Nathan viciously.

There was no mistaking who he meant.

“Jenny has done a lot of good for the Order, sir,” the other man said.

“She’s not doing any good right now,” Nathan said dismissively.

On the monitor they saw Audrey cradling her head in her lab, visibly shaking. The young Asian woman in the room with her looked up at the camera and shrugged.

“I’m sure if we try again...”

They were interrupted by a messenger at the door. He quickly passed off the note to Nathan who read it and gave the other men an odd smile.

“Looks like its Jenny’s lucky day,” he said, handing them the note as he strode out of the room.

The men scanned it and breathed a sigh of relief.

All it said was, ‘We have Parkman.’

****

“Where are you going?”

“After Matt and Claire,” Hiro answered still packing his backpack.

“All of you?” Niki asked, directing the question at D.L. this time.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he answered.

“Its suicide,” she shot back.

“That man saved my life,” D.L. said quite seriously. “This is the least I can do in return. I owe him.”

“So what are we supposed to do?” Niki asked. “What about us? Don’t you owe us something?”

“I want to come,” Micah put in.

“No,” Niki shouted. “Absolutely not. I’m not going to lose you too. Not like this.”

“Your mother’s right,” D.L. agreed. “Stay with her. The two of you keep going north, up to where Audrey said that colony is. We’ll be a few days behind you. I promise.”

Niki crossed her arms and silently shook her head.

“Dad,” Micah implored. “I want to help.”

“Then help take care of your mom,” D.L. said.

Micah nodded, ready to reluctantly do as he’d been told.

“Are we ready?” Ando asked.

“As ready as we’ll get,” D.L. returned.


	9. Escape

Matt had seen some pretty remarkable things over the past years, but this was amazing.

“Stand back,” Jacobs warned, for once sounding completely serious, “and watch the guards.”

“I know what to do,” Anne said with her oddly soft voice.

“Good,” the older man said, “and, you might not all want to be looking at me all at once. The less suspicious we act the better.”

They’d all agreed to it, but once he’d begun they couldn’t help but stare.

Matt felt the air around them stir, and it had begun to get warm. Very warm.

Next thing they knew, Jacobs was standing, facing the wall and just melting his way through it. Not melt the way Matt had seen D.L. do a hundred times before, but literally melting a hole in the wall. Somehow he was using the air to push his way through it. Matt probably wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it. There was no odor or noise, only heat.

Soon enough they had a crowd gathered around them, watching awed.

“Hey,” one of the guards called out from across the room. “What’s going on over there?”

Anne looked first at Matt and then to Lionel; both men gave her a quick nod as if to say, ‘now’.

“Almost done,” Jacobs hollered from well inside the wall.

Anne had already turned herself towards the approaching guard, dug in her heels and let loose a scream so loud she knocked the man off his feet.

People everywhere clutched at their ears from the sound, but it was only the people directly in front of her that really felt it. Matt, Claire, Lionel and Jacobs who were behind her, hardly heard it at all. Anne could apparently direct and focus the noise when she needed to.

“She’s almost out,” Lionel called back to the others.

“Tell her to stop,” Jacobs returned, “I’m done.”

Anne shut her mouth and the silence was almost as deafening as the noise had been. Before her were a dozen or more people lying unconscious on the floor. Some of them were even bleeding from their ears.

“Was that okay?” she asked them in a shuddery breath. “Was it enough?”

“Perfect,” Matt answered, wondering how in the world they’d even managed to capture her in the first place.

“It was great, honey,” Lionel said, squeezing her hand and kissing her on the temple.

“Good,” she near whispered, “because I can’t do it again. Not for some time. It takes… it takes a lot out of me.”

“Not to be rude,” Jacobs said, “but I think we should finish this conversation outside.”

They all quickly made their way through the wall, followed by anyone still standing, and Jacobs directed them towards the back fence.

“This should be quick,” he promised, easily cutting through the chain links.

“Now what do we do?” Claire asked.

“The guards won’t be too eager to chase after us,” Jacobs said. “Never-the-less, I suggest we get as far away from here as soon as possible. And orange was never that flattering, so we need a change of clothes. Most of the homes in this area are deserted. If we can get into one we might be able to find everything we need.”

The area immediately surrounding the detention center was wooded and gave them good enough cover, but Jacobs was right; it didn’t seem like anyone was bothering to look for them.

The first house they came across was large and looked empty. They thought it might have once been a fraternity house or something like it considering how close it was to the college, but didn’t really care one way or another.

By the time they got inside it was just starting to get dark. The first thing they did was spread out and look for something to change into. The three men didn’t have too much trouble finding anything appropriate, but the same couldn’t be said for the two women. Anne and Claire were both petite and the house only had men’s clothing in it. They had to make do with the smallest sweatpants available and a couple of sweatshirts they practically swam in.

“Don’t laugh,” Claire said immediately upon returning from dressing. “I know, I look like the saggy-baggy elephant in these.”

“I wasn’t going to laugh,” Matt said, smiling widely.

“Yes you were,” Claire countered, taking a seat near him.

“Okay,” Matt admitted, “I was. But Claire, it is funny. A little.”

“Sure, to you. You had no problem finding something to wear.”

“Yes, Claire,” Matt said sarcastically. “No problem at all. Never mind that I’m a good twenty years older than the former inhabitants.”

“You are not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“You make it sound like you’re old,” Claire returned.

“I am old,” Matt answered. “Too old for this at least.”

“Ah, this is refreshing,” Jacobs said, joining them with a lit candle in his hands. “I love bickering. Please, continue as if I wasn’t here.”

Matt and Claire exchanged a communicative look.

“So,” he continued as he took a seat opposite them, “how long have you known one another? Since before or after?”

_‘Do we trust him?’_

“Before,” Matt answered, but a lot of the good humor had gone from his voice.

“That explains it,” Jacobs said. “History. You have history. No one I knew from before has seemed to survive. I’ve had to make new histories with the people I’ve met since after.”

“What people?” Claire asked. “Do you mean like at the colony?”

“You’ve heard of it?” Jacobs asked as Lionel and Anne joined the conversation.

“Some,” Matt answered.

“We were thinking of going there when we were picked up,” Lionel said, “but weren’t sure.”

“Why not?” Matt asked.

“Well,” Lionel continued, “we’ve heard rumors that not everyone is welcome. That they don’t take normal people, people without abilities.”

“I won’t go if they won’t let my husband go with me,” Anne said quietly.

“I won’t pretend that there aren’t some in the colony that would look down upon you,” Jacobs said quite sincerely, “some that think they are better than the average person, but generally that is not the case. Many of us have only survived because of the help we’ve received from what you call normal people.”

“That’s right,” Claire added firmly causing them all to look at her.

“So what about you two,” Jacobs asked, turning the conversation. “You’ve obviously known one another since before. Where are you from?”

“New York if you can believe it,” Lionel answered. “I used to be a stock broker; Anne was getting her masters in literature. We’d only been married for a year when it all happened. We were lucky though. Lucky to be out of town the day it all happened.”

“Very lucky,” Jacobs agreed.

“Yeah,” Lionel said with a chuckle, “and if you can believe it, we both actually voted for Petrelli in that last election. Didn’t think we could do better. Who’d have known?”

Jacobs chuckled at this, but Matt shifted uneasily.

“What about you…um,” Lionel said turning to him before letting out a short laugh. “I’m sorry; I don’t even know your name.”

“Matt,” he answered after a slight pause. He still wasn’t sure if he could trust them completely, but again there wasn’t much choice. “This is Claire. We’ve known each other for some time.”

Anne smiled at them nervously, as if expecting more.

_‘What are they hiding? Maybe this is a trap.’_

_‘That’s strange.’_

_‘Interesting.’_

“So,” Jacobs said, “what line of work were you in?”

“Law enforcement.”

“And you’re a telepath?” Jacobs questioned.

“How did you know that?” Matt asked in return.

“Forgive me, but the two of you exchange an awful lot of looks,” Jacobs explained. “I’ve never met a telepath before, let alone two. Of course, I’ve heard of tale of the existence of one; one in particular that the Order is desperately looking for. Until now I was working on a theory that we all had unique gifts, but if the young lady can... ”

“I can’t…” Claire started to say before Matt could stop her. He was fine with them believing she could read their thoughts as well. Better that then them knowing what she could really do.

_‘Sorry.’_

“Matt,” Jacobs said turning to him directly. “I think we’re past the point of secrets. How can we trust you if you don’t trust us?”

“No offense,” Matt said bluntly, “but I don’t know any of you.”

“Just like you didn’t know Claire before this began,” Jacobs countered.

“That’s different.”

“Matt,” Claire began, “he’s right. We owe them something. They saved us. And it’s not like he hasn’t already figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” Lionel asked nervously. “Exactly who are you two?”

Jacobs only smiled.

“Claire and I met before the explosion,” Matt said with a relenting sigh. “Some would say it was pre-destined.”

Claire smiled warmly, knowing very well who Matt meant.

“A friend of ours,” Matt continued, “well, he wasn’t a friend at the time, we were all strangers, but he became a friend after… Anyway, he could paint the future...”

Matt stopped for a minute, his hand across his eyes.

“How do I say all this?” he asked Claire.

“Take your time,” Jacobs said reassuringly.

“He painted these pictures. Lots of them. Pictures of the explosion, of the aftermath. Pictures of Sylar.”

Anne gasped; the name obviously still incited terror.

“We were supposed to stop it.”

“You were there?” Lionel asked. “The day it happened? I didn’t think that was possible. No one could have survived…”

“To tell you the truth,” Matt answered, “I’m not sure how I did. I was pretty banged up. Claire took care of me, took us about a year to find our way back. To find our friends again.”

“Who took care of you?” Anne asked Claire quietly, her eyes full of concern.

“I didn’t need… I heal. I can heal myself,” Claire said with some relief. She was glad to have it all out in the open.

“So you really are the ones they are looking for,” Jacobs said somewhat in awe. “I was beginning to think you were rumors as well.”

“But you’d guessed…” Matt started to say.

“Yes,” Jacobs answered, “I had a very good idea it was you. I try and stay up to date on the list.”

For a moment there was complete silence.

“So,” Jacobs said after the pause, “what do you plan to do? Where are you going now? To meet your friends?”

“We were on our way to the colony,” Matt answered. “Our friends are probably there by now. Our group got separated coming out of Baltimore. Others…”

Matt stopped as reality dawned on him. The ambush. The militia. The Order had to have known something about their movements. Who they were involved with. Who was helping them. Likely they had gotten to Audrey and Mohinder by now.

He hadn’t really thought about it until now.

Claire reached out and took hold of his hand, giving it a squeeze.

“Others of us, that have helped us, were also getting out,” Claire finished for him. “We were all going to meet in Trenton today.”

“Why Trenton?” Jacobs asked her, eyebrow raised.

“That’s where it is, right? The colony.”

“Oh no,” Jacobs corrected. “That’s not where it is at all. That’s a bit of misinformation we like to get out there. It’s where the Order thinks the colony is.”

They all waited for him to continue.

“The colony is actually in New York.”

“City?” Lionel asked in disbelief.

“The very one.”

“No,” he said dismissively, “it’s unlivable. There’s nothing left of it.”

“I’m sure these two would disagree,” Jacobs said, indicating Matt and Claire with a wave of his hand. “It’s very livable. Not desirable by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly livable. We’ve only been there the past year, but we’ve made great improvements.”

“So you’ve seen it for yourself?” Claire asked. “It’s real? There are people like us there?”

“It’s my turn to come clean,” Jacobs said with an unusual amount of solemnity. “I’ve been looking for you for quite some time.”

“Why?” Matt asked with concern in his voice. Worried they’d have to run again, not knowing the extent of Jacobs’ powers.

“Honestly, because the Order wants you. We figured if they were looking for you so desperately, we should be too.”

“Who’s ‘we’?” Claire asked.

“The council,” Jacobs said. “Humans, we’re social creatures, but we need structure. So of course, immediately after forming our own colony we formed our own government. We’re still working out the kinks, but it seems to be working well for now.”

Matt shook his head. This couldn’t be real.

“I volunteered about six months ago to come down, back into the Order, and search,” Jacobs continued to explain. “I’d never seen your pictures, but I had your descriptions and knew what you could do.”

“You’ve really been looking for us?” Claire asked.

“If anything, you have answers. You were both there. You can tell us things we’ve needed to know about how it all happened. How it began.”

“We don’t know that,” Matt said with a shake of his head. “No one knows that. We’re just like the rest of you.”

“The rest of us weren’t painted into pictures of the future,” Jacobs countered.

Anne and Lionel stared expectantly at them in awe.

“There’s still time to save the world.”


	10. Payback

Niki had driven through the heart of the city twice without success; Trenton was a ghost town.

That morning they had all split up after finding two new cars to continue on in. D.L., Hiro and Ando were heading to the coast, towards the detention center where Matt and Claire were supposedly being held. She and Micah had continued heading north in search of the colony. Micah had rigged a cell phone for the three men as well to use when they found something. Niki personally believed it wasn’t necessary.

They weren’t going to find them, and if they did, they weren’t going to be alive.

“Now what?” she sighed in exhaustion, giving up and pulling the car over after another fruitless pass down another empty street.

“Maybe we should look around,” Micah suggested. “They probably aren’t out in the open. They’re probably hidden.”

“If they’re here at all,” Niki said under breath, but undid her safety belt just the same and stepped out of the car.

With Micah beside her they walked around the center of the city for nearly half an hour.

Still, nothing.

“We should have known,” Niki said as they made their way back to the car. “We should have known from the moment we hit that roadblock.”

“Known what?”

“That she set us up,” Niki answered. “Audrey set us up. There’s no colony here. She wanted us to head north, right into that trap.”

“Matt would have known,” Micah argued.

“He didn’t know about Simone,” Niki argued, but this time not unkindly. “People make mistakes, sometimes they just can’t see… We all have our blind spots. I’m not blaming him, but we never should have trusted her in the first place.”

“I like Audrey.”

Niki looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and surprise.

“She reminds me of you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Micah answered. “She’s strong, she doesn’t like relying on anyone else and she’s not afraid of saying what’s on her mind.”

Niki was struck.

“I think that’s why the two of you don’t get along.”

“I hardly know her.”

“Only because you…”

Niki ‘shushed’ him mid-sentence having spotted someone moving up the street.

“Stay here,” she told him as she took a handgun out of the glove compartment and exited the vehicle.

****

There was a short rap on the door.

“Come in.”

“Sir,” the man said hesitantly, even before he was completely inside the room, “I’ve got an update for you.”

“Make it quick,” Nathan Petrelli said as he stood up from behind his desk, a rare smile on his face. “My wife and I are about to have dinner.”

The man turned and gave a brief smile to Heidi Petrelli, before returning his attention back nervously to his boss.

“We’re going to celebrate the good news, Sullivan,” Nathan continued, still smiling. Heidi didn’t look nearly as pleased.

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about.”

Nathan’s demeanor changed instantly.

“What is it?”

“It seems,” Sullivan stammered, “that we may have been premature…”

“You were the one that told me that Parkman had been caught,” Nathan interrupted.

“Yes, sir.”

“You were the one that briefed me that we had him, secured, in a facility in New Jersey and ready for transfer immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So, why were you wrong?”

“We did have him, sir,” Sullivan explained. “But by the time we identified him and relayed the orders back up to the detention center, he along with several other inmates had already escaped.”

“Escaped?” Nathan asked. “What did he do, think himself out?”

“No, we think…”

“I don’t care what you think,” Nathan interrupted harshly. “I want solid facts. What do you know? Hell, are you even sure it was Parkman?”

“Yes, we do. We have his photo here,” Sullivan answered, handing it to Nathan in a hurry. 

Nathan took it and gave it a once over, nodding in agreement. He knew the man well enough.

“And we think….” Sullivan paused at Nathan’s glare before continuing again. “We’re reasonable sure that the woman with him was Claire Bennet.”

Nathan took the second photo and once more nodded. It was her, a little older than he’d remembered, a little wiser in the eyes, but still her.

“So,” Nathan said in a brisk tone, “you had not one, but both of them in custody and now nothing.”

“Sir, to be fair, our men can’t…”

“And they won’t ever be able to contain the problem if we do not get our hands on that woman,” Nathan shot back, for the first time growing loud.

Sullivan looked down, not sure what to say.

“Nathan,” Heidi said softly from where she sat.

“I want this fixed,” he said, leaning in and speaking in a fierce but quiet voice. “I want this fixed now. I want Parkman and Bennet brought back here at any cost. I don’t want any more excuses. I want action and I want this all now. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good,” Nathan said, stepping back and letting the man leave the room.

“Why are you doing this?” Heidi asked as soon as they were alone again. 

“You know why we need her,” Nathan returned.

“Yes,” Heidi admitted, “but why him too? Why not just let it go? There’s nothing…”

“He killed my brother.”

“Nathan, you know…”

“All of them,” he continued. “They filled his head with these delusions of grandeur and they sent him off to face that thing alone.”

“Peter only did what he thought was right,” Heidi said forcefully. “You know how your brother was.”

“Someone has to pay.”

****

Niki didn’t bother to hide; she just strode down the street as if she owned it. The man she’d caught a glimpse of before was now evidently hiding, but she knew she’d find him soon enough. She didn’t like this, not at all, and she was going to get some answers.

Spotting a door slightly ajar in an abandoned shop, Niki marched straight to it and kicked it in.

“Alright,” she called out as she scanned the room, “I don’t have time for games. Just get out here right now so we can get this over with.”

A pair of hands shot up from behind the counter.

“Don’t hurt me,” a young man’s voice said.

“Get up,” Niki admonished.

The man obeyed; man being a stretch. He couldn’t be but a few years older than Micah. Probably not even out of his teens yet.

“Who are you?”

“Jason,” he answered, his voice shaking slightly as he spotted her gun.

“Why were you watching me and my son?”

“I watch everyone that comes in town. It’s my job.”

“You work for the Order?” Niki asked.

“No.”

“But you work for someone, right? Who? And why?”

“I’m part of the colony…”

“What colony?” Niki interrupted. “There’s no one here.”

“That’s my job,” he tried explaining. “I stay behind, a couple of us do. We rotate around, waiting for others. There haven’t been a lot, so…”

“How many?”

“How many here or…”

“How many of you watch this place?”

“A few. Used to be more, but the militia made a raid a few weeks ago. Now there’s just me, Mike and Paul.”

“What can you do?”

“Do?” Jason asked. “I can’t do nothing. I don’t…”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“No, it’s true. I’m not like…”

“If you’re not like us then why are you here?”

“Because I don’t want to be apart of the Order,” Jason answered firmly. “I don’t want someone else telling me what to do or where to live.”

Niki nodded her head slightly in agreement as finally lowered her weapon.

“So if this isn’t where the colony is…”

“I can take you there,” Jason finished.

****

“Did we make a mistake?” Claire asked quietly in the dark.

“Yes,” Matt answered.

“Really?” Claire returned in surprise.

“Definitely. Bunk beds were a mistake.”

Claire laughed softly.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” she chided.

“Yeah, I know,” he said more seriously. “And no, I don’t. I think we can trust them. Jacobs especially. I get a good feeling from him. I think we’ll be alright.”

“Good,” Claire said with a yawn.

“Get some sleep,” Matt urged. “We’ll probably be up early tomorrow. We still need to find a car.”

“Hmm,” Claire mumbled, already halfway asleep.

“Goodnight,” Matt said quietly.

“Night.”

_…_

_“We’re not going without you.”_

_“I can hold him off until you can find the others and regroup.”_

_“It’s too risky.”_

_“No. I can do it.”_

_“Peter, it’s too much…”_

_“I can do this, Matt. I know I can. Please, I’d rather it was me…”_

_“I can’t let you do this!”_

_“Trust me! Please. Just trust me.”_

_“Of course I trust you but…”_

_“Then go. Go. Let me do this. Get Claire out of here.”_

_“Peter…”_

_“Get her out of here and promise me you’ll take care of her. Promise me you’ll watch out for her.”_

_“You know I will.”_

_…_

“Matt? Matt, wake up. I think there’s someone in the house. Wake up, please. Wake up!”

Matt sat up groggily as Claire continued to shake him by the arm.

“There’s someone in the house,” she whispered in a near panic. “I heard noises downstairs. I think they found us.”

“What?” he asked as he got to his feet. “When? When did you hear this?”

“Just now.”

“Get your shoes on,” he told her. “Quickly. I’m going to go…”

“No,” she said vehemently. “Don’t go. Don’t leave me. I’ll go with you.”

“I’m just going to wake up Jacobs and the others. They…”

Matt and Claire both froze as they heard boots clomping up the stairs followed by the distinct sound of a door being kicked in, a shrill scream, several shots and then silence.

Both of them stood stock still.

Matt, despite his police training and the fact that he had twice been in an all out gunfight, felt petrified. It was all hopelessness and despair.

The next thing they knew, the door to their room flew open and Matt was certain that was it; it was over.

“Hurry,” Jacobs said in an urgent hiss.

They both recovered their senses at roughly the same time, hustling towards the door as Jacobs stood as hidden as he could in the corridor, waiting for the militia men to get close enough.

Matt instinctively blocked Claire as much as possible as they ran out the door and down the end of the hall, away from the men.

“That’s them,” they heard one man exclaim.

Shots rang through the air, followed again by screams.

But this time the screams were from the militia men. Jacobs had done his job, had super heated the air and sent it blasting down the hallway.

Claire didn’t stop running until she was down the backstairs and out into the yard. Matt was only a few feet behind her, Jacobs coming last.

“They’ll recoup quick,” Jacobs panted as he pointed down an alley. “I couldn’t get it hot enough. We need to get out of here.”

“Come on,” Claire called, leading the way. “One of these houses has to still have a car in it.”

They went for several blocks before Claire began to notice that Matt was no longer right beside them, in fact, he had begun to lag a good deal behind.

“Matt?”

“I think,” he said, near doubled over and clutching his side. Stopping every few words to take in big, raspy breaths. “I think that you’re going… going to have to go on without me.”

Their eyes met before Claire looked down at the hand he now held out to show. She didn’t want to believe it, but the truth hit her hard. His hand and shirt both bright with blood.

“Oh, God,” Jacobs said softly.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Claire demanded. “Why…”

“I had to get you out of there,” he answered. “I couldn’t…”

Matt began to sway causing both Claire and Jacobs to reach out and steady him as best they could, but he couldn’t support himself any longer. He was now almost entirely dead weight; there was no choice but to set him on the ground.

“You have to get up,” Claire said firmly, ignoring the knot in her stomach. “You have to. It’s not much further. Pretty soon, we’ll find a car and we’ll be on our way to New York. Everyone is going to be there, please. You have to get up.”

“Tell them…”

“Tell them yourself,” Claire shot back through her tears.

“Tell them,” Matt repeated, putting a hand on her cheek and smiling a bit despite the pain, “that I did everything I could. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Claire…”

“Don’t talk,” Claire said, pressing her hand to where he’d been shot. It was still bleeding. It was still bleeding a lot. “You should save your energy. Isn’t that right? Is it? I don’t know what to do.”

She’s spoken the last to Jacobs, her eyes turned to him pleading. He didn’t know what to say. Any encouragement would only be false.

“It’s going to be okay,” Matt said, weaker than before.

Claire felt the blood flow begin to lessen as Matt let out a shaky breath.

“You’re going to be fine,” she said, resting her forehead to his temple with her arms still around him. She shut her eyes tight because she didn’t want to him this way any more. “You are. I know you are…”

“Claire?”

“You have to be. You promised. You promised you’d watch out for me…”

“Claire?”

“I need you to be okay. You’re my family. You’re all I have left…”

“Claire,” Jacobs’ voice said more firmly this time, “it’s time to go.”

She turned and looked up at the older man in confusion before turning back towards Matt.

Claire didn’t know how long she’d been there like that, holding on to someone already gone. One last look in his eyes proved it to her, even if she didn’t want it to be true.

She hesitated, not sure what she should do, but only for a moment.

With a trembling hand she reached up and gently shut his eyes. Her hand paused briefly above his lips before she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.

“Bye.”


	11. Blessings

D.L., Ando and Hiro were a safe distance from the facility having found their way to the roof of an abandoned apartment complex. They were close enough to watch it via binoculars, but far enough away to not draw attention to themselves. They’d been there for hours and still hadn’t decided what they were going to do.

They didn’t know if Matt and Claire were even still inside.

Hiro had wanted to go in alone, but D.L. and Ando had temporarily talked him out of it. There was a lot they could surmise without risk; a lot to be learned from watching.

So far, they knew that the compound was in chaos. Militia men were running in and out of the place, loading trucks and positioning guards. Despite the hustle, they didn’t seem to be accomplishing much. It was a frantic kind of confusion; more show than action.

It wasn’t until that night that the trucks actually went anywhere. They seemed to be working in teams, patrolling. This was enough to make D.L. extremely nervous that they might be caught, but from their vantage point they’d at least see them coming. And they appeared, at least at a glance, to only be searching the houses in the immediate area. So far, they were safe.

Shortly after midnight there was another resurgence of men in trucks.

Two hours later they began to return, all of them. It was a slow trickle, one or two trucks at a time. There was no hurry now and D.L. couldn’t believe that meant anything good.

“Do you see that?”

“Where?” D.L. asked Ando in return, briefly lowering his own binoculars to see what the other man was watching.

“That one truck pulled up next to the door. I think they have prisoners.”

“No,” Hiro corrected, “not prisoners.”

Once D.L. spotted it for himself, he understood Hiro’s unusual pessimism.

The truck was about as near to the building as the man driving could place it. A few men had come over and lowered the back, getting ready to transport whoever was inside. But it was obvious now, whoever that was, they were no longer alive.

They had two body bags.

“Is that…” Ando started to ask, but couldn’t bring himself to finish.

“I’ll go,” Hiro said with determination. “I’ll go and see. We have to be certain.”

This time neither of them argued against it.

****

“It’s going to be a long ride if you don’t talk.”

Claire said nothing, just continued to stare out the window as the scenery whipped by.

“I’m a pretty good conversationalist,” Jacobs continued, “but I can’t just talk to myself the whole way.”

“I’m thinking.”

“Care to share those thoughts?”

“I’m just trying to decide what to do now,” Claire said softly.

“Don’t you have friends waiting for you up north?”

Claire nodded, but it obviously didn’t cheer her.

“I thought you’d be going with them?” Jacobs continued to question.

“Why?” she asked with a momentary spark. “So they can keep risking their lives to hide me? Protect me?”

“Claire…”

“No,” she interrupted, dejected again. “I think I’ve done enough. I think I’ve killed…”

Claire suppressed an involuntary sob that rose in her throat.

“The way I see it,” Claire continued after a moment, “is that I’ve got two options. I can either ask you to stop right now and drop me off so I can turn myself in.”

“Or?”

“Or,” Claire said more resolutely, “I can just disappear. Once we get to the colony I can just… just go I guess.”

“You have another option,” Jacobs said kindly.

Claire shook her head roughly.

“Yes,” Jacobs pressed. “You do. We can protect…”

“I don’t need protection! Do you know how ridiculous that is?” Claire asked, growing more and more upset with each word she spoke. “Do you? How pointless?”

She turned to him now fully for the first time since they’d begun heading towards New York. Her eyes were livid and bright with tears.

“They can’t kill me,” she nearly yelled. “He knew that and still… Why did he do that? I keep replaying it over and over in my head and I didn’t even think about it. I just let him stand between me and them.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“That’s not the way it feels.”

“Claire,” he said, “I may not have known Matt as long or as well as you did, but I am certain he wouldn’t want you to do this. That he wouldn’t want you to run away or hide or blame yourself.”

Claire said nothing, just resumed looking out the window.

“Giving up is not the answer.”

She continued to stare off into the distance, but his words had gotten through. Claire knew he was right. It wasn’t really in her to give up, but she felt so defeated and alone.

It was like New York all over again.

When Peter had died Claire felt like her world had shattered. It had never been said, but he had been their leader of sorts. Peter connected and encouraged them all. He’d been the first one to teach her about purpose. That there were things more important than ourselves; that doing what was right wasn’t easy.

Now Matt was gone too. After the explosion, the loss of it all, he was the only one she’d really ever let get close again. He had protected her, laughed with her, held her when she cried and talked with her when she needed a friend. Sometimes more of a father, others more of a friend; Claire had fooled herself into think he was an invincible as she was.

She wasn’t sure if it was ironic or poetic that she was now heading back to the place it had all really began. The city that had forever changed her life; changed the world.

Claire thought again about what Jacobs’ had said and wondered if she hadn’t already given up long ago. If she even had it in her to make a difference.

Steeling her resolve, she was decided. Claire knew now what she had to do. To do anything other than fight was a disservice to them both. They’d be ashamed if she quit, or ran, or gave in to it all.

Claire promised herself that she wouldn’t let that happen.

“How much further?”

****

Hiro got as close as he felt comfortable to the facility before freezing the world around him. D.L. and Ando had wanted to come with him, but Hiro wouldn’t risk it. After losing Matt and Claire, going alone was much safer. He didn’t want to be responsible for that type of loss again.

Besides, alone he would have much more time to look around. Hiro wasn’t sure exactly how long he could stop time for himself, he’d never tested it, but it always felt endless. Almost like he could live a lifetime while the world waited to bat their eyes.

Endless time or not, he was in a hurry. Hiro wanted answers, needed to know his friends’ fate.

He entered the building at the same point the men had brought the bodies only to discover what looked like a kitchen attached to a cafeteria. Sure he must have been mistaken, Hiro went back outside and rechecked the entrance, but he’d been right. This was it.

Heading back inside Hiro recollected what Micah had told them about the area, that this had once been a university. Looking around the kitchen Hiro understood. There would be no other place to keep a body or two but in a walk-in freezer.

Hiro opened the door to the first with some trepidation. He knew this had to be done, that there had to be no doubt, but it didn’t make the doing any easier.

The bodies were there, side-by-side on the floor, completely encased and covered by the bags.

Hiro breathed out a sigh. Just by looking at them, at their shapes, he felt like he had already found out. 

Slowly he knelt next to the smaller of the two, took one last breath in and unzipped the bag just enough to see the face.

One glance was enough, it wasn’t Claire.

The woman, whoever she was, had dark brown hair and despite being similar in size and shape to Claire, they looked nothing alike.

Hiro quickly zipped the bag back up and felt relief. If the first one wasn’t Claire than he was near positive the second would not be Matt. Matt would never have left her side, nor Claire his; under no circumstances.

Still, to be certain, he checked.

It was just as he supposed, the other body was that of a man Hiro had never seen before.

Getting back to his feet, after returning everything to order, Hiro was anxious to get back. He knew that no time had passed for D.L. or Ando, but he was still in a hurry to let them know the good news.

And it was good news. Sure, they still didn’t know where Matt and Claire were, but at least they knew that they weren’t dead.

It was a blessing; a small one, but still a blessing none the less.

****

The silence was heavy.

He’d never felt anything like this; there was absolutely nothing. It had been a slow drift down followed by a complete void of light, sound and movement.

It was almost peaceful. 

Then the familiar began to reemerge, slow and dreamlike at first, but quickly gaining speed. Faster and faster his body began to revive, to mend. He could hear his heartbeat build, the blood moving through his veins, the sound of the night around him.

He gasped.

He gasped as he opened his eyes, startled at how little pain there was. Startled by a lot of things. Not sure what had happened, or how, or even why. 

Disoriented, he struggled to his feet and looked around.

He was standing in a puddle of blood, likely his own, but he didn’t have to check to know there was no longer a wound. He’d felt it stitch itself up.

Taking a few hesitant steps he was suddenly blinded by a flood of light.

“Get your hands up!”

There was no arguing, not even a faint thought of escape. Not now. It wasn’t possible. Even whole again, he was still weak. Too weak to run and too weak to fight.

So he did as he was told.

“Is it him?” he heard another man ask from somewhere in the shadows. 

“Definitely,” came the answer.

_‘He looks like hell,’_ was the lone thought he picked out with ease.

“Well,” the man with the questions started again, “what are you waiting for? Take him down. We have to get him to D.C. before sunup tomorrow.”

He felt the brief sting, saw the dart and then it was all darkness again; dark again, but no longer silent.


	12. Inside

Jenny Yi joined the two technicians in the monitor room. It was a small room with several television sets, but only two were currently being watched. Jenny didn’t care about either right now; she was exhausted and a little queasy. She’d never used her power this much before and wasn’t positive she could keep it up.

“What happened in there? Why isn’t this working?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted, collapsing into the nearest chair.

“Jenny, he wants results. He wants them now.”

“I know that, Taylor,” she shot back. “But what am I supposed to do? I can’t pull it out of her head. I can only make her see…”

“Try again,” the other man interrupted. “You’re already on thin ice around here.”

“Mac’s right,” Taylor said. “You can’t afford this, Jenny. Not after the last guy they brought in to see you.”

“I keep telling you it’s not that easy,” she argued, but with a lot less enthusiasm. She’d been through this too many times before. They just didn’t understand. “I can only make her see it, I can’t make her believe it. She doesn’t want to think her friend sold her out; she’s just not buying it.

“Why not try again,” Taylor asked.

“Because she might crack,” Jenny answered. “I don’t know what will happen if I keep forcing these images into her head. I’ve never worked on someone so long.”

“So,” Mackenzie said. “Who cares if it does?”

“I don’t know what it will do to me either,” Jenny returned angrily.

“What about him?” Taylor asked, trying to turn the conversation, pointing to the other monitor that showed the Indian man pacing the room. “Why don’t you try him?”

“It’ll be the exact same thing,” Jenny said. “He won’t want to believe the betrayal anymore than she did.”

The two men looked uneasily at one another before turning their attention back to the monitors.

Mohinder was still pacing, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

Audrey was still sitting, handcuffed and resting her head in her hands.

“Maybe we just need a different approach,” Mac said.

“You want to try?” Jenny asked back sarcastically.

“Don’t be smart,” he shot back at her. “I meant, instead of trying to tell them something they don’t want to hear, tell them something they do.”

“Like what?”

“That’s your job,” he answered her. “Remember. It’s the reason you’re still around.”

“I’ll try him,” Jenny said reluctantly getting to her feet, “but not her. Not her. I’m not going to be responsible for destroying someone.”

“You have to think of the big picture, Jenny,” Taylor gently admonished. “It doesn’t matter how we do it, but we have to find that girl. We need her. The Order needs her.”

“I know,” she said solemnly before making her way back to the interrogation room.

She stood outside the door for a moment, preparing herself. Sensing the man on the other side; feeling her way through his memories to find a face to use.

Jenny braced herself.

She found what she needed.

****

Mohinder Suresh continued to walk about the room uneasily.

He’d been picked up the day before and he knew why. They were on to him. They had to know he was still helping his old friends. What he couldn’t figure is why they hadn’t just come out and demanded he tell them everything. A few men had come and questioned him, but nothing too serious. It was true he had some support; Mohinder wasn’t so friendless in the world that the Order could just lock him away, but it was dwindling. His friends in India could only do so much.

Glaring up at the camera in the corner of the room, he decided enough was enough.

“You can’t keep me here forever,” he called up to it. “I demand to know what I’ve been charged with.”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the door opened and for a moment Mohinder thought he might pass out.

“How…” he started to say, grasping the chair for support.

“I can explain.”

“Explain?” Mohinder returned, almost unable to speak at all. “You’re… we thought… Peter…”

“I know,” Peter said with a short nod. “Just, have a seat and I can explain all of this.”

Mohinder blinked several times, feeling a bit dizzy, but realized it was probably just the shock of it all. The shock of seeing a man, a friend, who you thought was dead suddenly standing before you as if nothing had ever happened.

It was unreal.

But he did it. Mohinder sat down again, staring hard and giving his head a shake. Unintentionally a smile came across him as Peter sat as well. A smile Peter just barely returned.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Peter started, “but you have to understand how important it was that you, that everyone thought I had died.”

“Why? Why not tell us? Tell someone? Matt and Claire, you don’t know what this did to them. What it did to all of us.”

“It was Nathan’s idea,” Peter continued to explain. “He wanted to protect me…”

“But Nathan…” Mohinder said, bringing his voice down to a whisper as he remembered where they were. “Nathan is hunting them down. All of them. He doesn’t…”

“Yes,” Peter urged. “He does. He’s trying to protect them too, but he just can’t…”

“No, Peter, you’re wrong. Your brother…”

“Do you know what Primatech is?” Peter asked pointblank.

“Of course,” Mohinder answered. “Primatech was the front for Bennet, those genetic experiments. They were tracking all of you down before…”

“Now they run the Republic of Texas,” Peter said blankly.

Mohinder didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Nathan faked my death in order to protect me. You know the type of experiments they do, right? That they were looking for ways to genetically engineer people. They were looking for ways to stop us, change us. Use us. Once they figured out what I could do…”

“They wanted you, too,” Mohinder finished.

Peter leaned back a bit in his chair and gave him a crisp nod.

“So, why then is Nathan tracking down Claire and Matt? Wouldn’t it be easier to just come out and tell them….”

“Tell them how? No one can find them,” Peter answered. “We didn’t even know they were alive, that they’d survived, until a few years ago. I wanted to tell them, I did...”

“Then why didn’t you?” Mohinder said disapprovingly. “When you knew they were alive, you could have.”

“No,” Peter said shaking his head vehemently. “No. You don’t get it. Nathan has been trying to track them down through the Order to keep them safe. To keep them out of Primatech and the Republic’s hands, but he can’t just come out and say that. The Republic is stronger than we are. They have people here, spying on us. They could wipe us out if they wanted to. They have technology you can’t imagine; we can’t even keep the lights on all the time.”

“It’s a cover. The wanted lists, the pursuit. It’s all a cover?”

“Yes,” Peter said enthusiastically. “It’s a cover. All of it. But we’re running out of time. They want Claire. You know what she can do. If they get a hold of her first and find a way to duplicate her power, they could engineer super soldiers. They could become nearly immortal.”

Mohinder couldn’t think straight. It all felt like it might be a bad dream. Peter alive. Nathan really trying to help them. The Republic. Primatech. It was confusing. It was making his head spin.

“We have to get to her first,” Peter urged. “It’s vital. We have to know where she is, Mohinder. Tell me where she is.”

“I don’t know,” he said flatly.

“Please, Mohinder. It’s important that we know. We have to protect her.”

Mohinder considered it. Was really trying to make heads of it all, when something suddenly occurred to him.

“What about Isaac?” he asked. “What about what happened to Isaac? Why…”

“An unfortunate accident, nothing more,” Peter said calmly. “You don’t think…”

“Who are you?”

Peter paused for a moment as Mohinder continued to stare across the table at him.

“Tell me where she is,” he finally said.

“Tell me who you are,” Mohinder countered. “I know you’re not really Peter.”

Both men got to their feet at the same time. Peter slowly began to back his way to the door.

Mohinder, determined to find out exactly what was going on made a mad lunge in his direction without making much progress.

For a split second Peter was gone and in his place was a frightened-looking young woman, backed into a corner. The change was hard to explain, but as it happened the entire room had gone blurry. It was like watching an image through water; it was like a mirage.

It was horrible.

Watching the change made him sick, physically sick. Mohinder’s knees buckled and his head swam. It was like walking off a cliff without realizing.

When he looked up again, both the woman and Peter were both gone and in their place was his father.

“No,” Mohinder yelled. “I don’t believe this. It isn’t… how are you doing this? What did you do to me?”

Another wave of nausea passed over him and the woman was back. This time she was sitting in the corner, crying and shaking her head. Mohinder was still too weak to get to move.

It was then that two men in white coats rushed in and pulled the woman to her feet, practically dragging her away.

Mohinder couldn’t do anything, couldn’t even speak.

Before the door was shut on him again, he heard the woman say, “He fought too hard.”

****

Taylor and Mackenzie deposited Jenny in the nearest chair available back at the monitor room.

“What happened in there?” Mac barked.

“I told you,” Jenny gasped, still feeling sick. “He fought me. He knew it wasn’t real. It’s hallucination, not hypnotism. Part of them always knows it’s fake. They either want to believe it enough or they don’t. I can’t…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Taylor cut in. “Forget Suresh.”

“But, I didn’t find out,” Jenny said fearfully. Suddenly afraid she had reached the end of her usefulness within the Order. “I can. Give me another chance at him. Or the woman. Either, I don’t care. I just need some time to rest, to get back my strength. I’m sure…”

“You’ll get another chance,” Mac said pointing to a newly activated monitor.

Jenny was still shaky, but managed to get up and take a look for herself.

There he was, one of the Orders most wanted, sitting in the interrogation room; handcuffed and staring straight ahead at nothing.

“I thought he escaped.”

“Our guys caught him. Didn’t say how,” Mac answered. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Mr. Petrelli is on his way now to talk to him,” Taylor added.

“Do you think he’ll talk?” Jenny asked, curious.

Both men hesitated. They didn’t want to say what was true. That it was very unlikely that Nathan Petrelli or anyone would be able to get Parkman to admit to knowing where Claire Bennet was; to get him to admit to knowing who she was might even be impossible. They all knew what he was capable of. He was one of the few whose powers were well documented. There wouldn’t be a way of lying to him, not well at least.

“Of course he will,” Mac finally said with an abundance of overconfidence. “What choice does he have?”

“As much choice as Suresh and Hanson have,” Jenny pointed out.

“Are you saying…”

“I’m saying,” Jenny interrupted forcefully, “that he’s expecting this. He’s got to be. Hanson was. So was Suresh. We need to go after him in a way he won’t see coming. We’ve been too direct about it.”

Taylor and Mac were positively staring at her now. Jenny wasn’t sounding like herself. And truthfully, she didn’t feel like herself much either. It was as if something had clicked inside her. As if she suddenly understood how to best use her gift.

“I’ve got an idea.”


	13. Arrival

“Well, this is it.”

The sky was just beginning to lighten as Claire got out of the car. From this point on they wouldn’t be able to drive. Most of the bridges leading into the city had been destroyed and only two tunnels were passable on foot.

“We keep a sentry on the other side now,” Jacobs told her, “for security. Granted, there isn’t much they’d be able to do to stop an army, but at least we’ll be warned.”

“I hated this part,” Claire muttered as they neared the entrance, not looking forward to the long walk in the dark.

“It’s not so bad as it was,” Jacobs assured her. “We still don’t have power but a lot of the cars have been moved. A lot has been cleared out.”

Claire didn’t have to ask to know what he meant. She remembered it vividly. It was like something out of a horror film, walking the tunnel. It had taken hours to get through it. And it wasn’t just the darkness, it was the smell. People had died down there and were just left to rot.

It was one of those things you tried to forget but knew you never would.

“I promise,” Jacobs said, sensing her fear, “it won’t take long. We’ll be on the other side before you know it.”

“I’m alright,” Claire said, putting on a brave face.

“Just stay close by.”

It was advice he didn’t need to give.

Jacobs gave her one last and serious look before moving towards the entrance. Claire followed right behind him, ready to get it over with.

Neither of them talked the entire time and the walk was much quicker than she’d expected. The path the colony had cleared wasn’t very big, wide enough for one person, but it was helpful. And the smell wasn’t as intense as she’d remembered. Still, there was the lingering odor of decay.

As they began to see light at the end of the tunnel, a voice called out to them from the dark.

“Who’s there?”

“Henry Jacobs. And I’ve got a friend.”

“Busy day,” the woman said with an easier tone. “Jason came through with two a few hours ago.”

They were so near the end that Claire could see that the sun had risen. The woman who they had been talking to moved out of the shadows and came over and joined them.

“It’s good to see you again, Henry,” she said, clasping hands with him briefly before turning with a smile to Claire. “I’m Maggie. Welcome.”

Claire smiled back at the woman. She was tall, with pale skin and dark brown hair cut short. She was also dressed in head to toe black, which Claire assumed helped her to stay hidden while on duty down in the tunnels.

“I’m Claire,” she responded, offering her hand.

Maggie turned her eyes briefly to Jacobs, before shaking hands with her. A look that Claire not only caught but wondered at.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Maggie said before turning her attention back to Jacobs. “You’re just in time. They’re having a meeting tonight. Open door. There have been some issues since you last left.”

“I bet,” Jacobs responded tightly. “We can talk later. Right now, I think Claire and I could both use a rest and we’ve still got quite a ways to go. Find me when you get off duty.”

“Will do,” Maggie said with a nod, watching the two of them walk away.

After a few minutes of walking Claire stopped to look around her. A lot of the buildings had been destroyed, a few leveled completely but all things considered, it could be worse.

“Where are we going?” she asked, curious as to where so many people could be hiding.

“Grand Central Station,” he answered.

“It wasn’t destroyed?”

“Parts of it were,” Jacobs answered, “but largely, it’s held together. A lot more of the city is held together than you’d think which is what I wanted to talk to you about, if you don’t mind.”

Claire shook her head and he continued.

“You were here when it happened, during the explosion, but I want to know how?”

“How come I was here?”

“How it happened,” he questioned.

“I’m not sure how much I can tell you,” Claire admitted. “I wasn’t there, not right where it happened.”

“So you have no idea at all?”

Claire hesitated, unsure of what she should say. She did know the truth, in part. 

They always referred to the event as an explosion, which was kind of a misnomer. It’s what the world at large called it, and what they had been trying to prevent. She guessed they did do that, at least but there had been no real explosion. The damage had all been caused by Sylar and Peter.

She’d only seen part. Had only that last look Peter gave her as Sylar approached, then she and Matt had to run for it. 

There had been fire and lightening, flooding and panic. Whole buildings had been pushed and thrown about. It had felt like the end of the world.

They never found his body.

Later they had heard, as things tended to get around, that ultimately Sylar had won, choosing to retreat further north. Possibly to recuperate. Possibly too weak to do any more harm. Gone, only popping up now and again in the stories of strange deaths that were common nowadays.

Claire didn’t know how to describe all of it, or even if she should.

“I guess what I want to know is if the Order is lying,” Jacobs said. “Was it one of us that did this, that started it all? Or did they do it to blame us?”

She thought it over for a minute. 

How would Matt answer that question? How much would he say? Matt had told her the he trusted Jacobs, but that still didn’t mean he’d tell him everything.

“It was one of us,” Claire said softly, deciding on the simple truth.

“I thought so,” Jacobs returned. “The council is always debating it, maybe now they’ll move on.”

She was surprised he didn’t ask more, but wasn’t willing to continue the subject herself.

“Do you have any questions for me?” Jacobs finally asked after several more minutes of silence. “I’d be more than willing to answer anything I can. It’s a long walk; we might as well do something towards passing the time.”

“Okay,” Claire said. “Well, how many people are at the colony?”

“About two hundred, give or take. Some members are like me, out and about in the Order. Doing what we can. Others have different missions, duties. Odd jobs and the like.”

“Are all of them like us?”

“No,” Jacobs said, shaking his head. “You’ve had to have noticed there aren’t a lot of us, not really. Well, there are more of us than the Order would like. One is too many for them. But in truth, are numbers are small.”

“How many in the colony?”

“Fifty or sixty.”

“And do they run things?” Claire asked, not sure if she liked that idea or not.

“Mostly. The council is made up of three people, all with gifts. They decide what we do about security, food, who goes on what missions. They decide a lot of things.”

“So they sent you out after us.”

“That’s right,” Jacobs confirmed. “You and others like you. But I’m getting too old for this. There are things I can do here. I’ve earned my rest.”

Claire nodded and they walked on in silence after that, stopping several times, before finally reaching their destination.

Despite being a little tired, the sight of so many people in one place was heartening. It had been a long time since she’d really been in public, out among others.

As Jacobs showed her around, Claire began to notice the stares she was getting. Some people were even backing out of her way, a few pointed.

Before she could ask Jacobs what the problem was, he turned and frowned at her disapprovingly.

“I think we should get you changed,” he said, patting her on the shoulder.

Claire looked down and realized how it must appear; her sweatshirt was still covered in blood.

After getting her a fresh shirt, Jacobs showed her where the kitchen, sleeping quarters and the general assembly rooms were.

“This is it,” Jacobs said swinging his arms wide. “We don’t have much as far as entertainment goes, but typically everyone meets her to talk and exchange stories. When the council has open meetings, this is also where it’s done. Like I said, it’s not much.”

“No,” Claire argued. “It’s great. It is. Thank you for bringing me here.”

Jacobs nodded slowly, aware of what she must be feeling. That it was bittersweet was beyond a doubt.

“Claire!”

Both of them turned at the sound of her name being yelled across the room.

“Claire!” she heard shouted once more before finally seeing Micah running towards her, Niki just behind.

Micah pulled her into a fierce hug, ecstatic to see her. Niki joined just after her son, looking relieved and close to tears.

“How about I give you some privacy,” Jacobs said. “I have a few things to attend to and will see you again soon.”

Claire just nodded, momentarily too happy to talk.

Niki and Micah smiled at him as well before turning their attention back to her.

“How long have you been here?” Micah asked. “We just got here today. I thought you might not make it because Trenton wasn’t the right place, but Mom knew you’d find it.”

“Are D.L. and the others with you?” Niki asked. “They’d gone back after you, after Micah saw you’d been caught. How did you get away?”

“I just got here,” Claire answered first, tears beginning to slide down her face. “They’re not… they’re not with me…”

“It’s okay,” Niki assured her.

“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll be here tomorrow,” Micah added.

“It’s not… no,” Claire tried to continue, feeling overwhelmed.

Niki’s smile faded as Claire’s frustration grew.

“It’s…”

“Where’s Matt?” Micah asked.

She couldn’t keep it in any longer. Claire’s face fell completely and the little composure she’d had was lost.

She didn’t have to say anymore. Niki understood. She understood and pulled her into a tight embrace as she would her own child to tell her again and again that it was ‘alright’ even if it really wasn’t. 

Claire found that now that she’d begun to cry, she couldn’t stop. Everything she’d been holding back, all the fear and sorrow of the last few days had finally caught up with her.


	14. Interrogation

Matt sat perfectly still.

He was alone in the room they’d placed him in, handcuffed and facing the door. His mind was clear and he was concentrating harder than he had ever done before on reaching out to whoever was behind that door, waiting to come in.

Just listening.

Matt could sense them there. He could almost hear them. Almost. They were just out of range. A little closer, a step even, and he’d know. He’d know what was going on in their head and what was in store for him.

Not that he didn’t already have an idea about that.

Rooms like this weren’t made for social gatherings. This was going to be an interrogation. A real interrogation. And if Matt was right, and that person standing just out of his mind’s reach was who he thought it was, it was going to be a rough one.

At last the suspense ended. Just before the door opened he caught a ‘finally’ and then he was in the room with him. 

Nathan Petrelli.

A man he once thought was on his side. Once would have called his friend. There he stood, gloating with two or three of personal guards there with him.

Matt knew why they were there without having to reach for the answer. They had two purposes. They were Nathan’s enforcers and his cover.

They were there to help cause confusion. Nathan knew that the more people in a room, especially a small room, the harder it was for Matt to pick out individual thoughts. And he was right. Well, he used to be right.

It used to be a problem.

Whatever Claire had done, however she’d fixed him, she’d done a very good job.

What would have before been an angry buzz now sounded more like actual conversation. Each voice, each thought, could be pushed aside and ignored much easier than before.

And the headache, that constant pounding that had lived inside his head for the past three years, was gone.

For having been dead a few hours ago, Matt felt pretty damn good.

“Hi, Parkman. It’s been a long time.”

Matt only looked up and glared at him.

“You always were the quiet one,” Nathan remarked. “But I guess you don’t have much reason to talk, right? Given what you can do.”

_‘Self-righteous asshole.’_

Matt couldn’t help himself. Couldn’t stop from acknowledging that he’d heard him by raising an eyebrow and giving a slight shrug.

Nathan laughed a cold and hollow laugh before turning so quickly, moving so quickly that Matt didn’t even have a chance to flinch as he’d hit him square in the nose.

Matt briefly cradled his head in his hands, trying to slow the bleeding but not doing a good job of it.

“Want to talk now?”

“Go to hell,” Matt answered, lifting his head back up and wiping his nose one last time with his sleeve.

“That’s better,” Nathan said, stepping back and seemingly cooler.

“If you want to fight why don’t you take these off and make it fair,” Matt stated, lifting his hands toward him. “But I don’t have anything to say to you.”

_‘We’ll see about that.’_

Nathan pulled a chair over and sat down directly in front of him.

“Where’s Claire?”

Matt said nothing.

“We know that you were heading north,” Nathan continued, “towards that colony that doesn’t exist. Trenton is empty; we have men patrol there every few days. Whoever told you that lied.”

_‘Audrey lied.’_

It affected him more than he wanted it to, even knowing it wasn’t true. Nathan knew he was listening and was just goading him. That had to be it. Audrey wouldn’t have lied to them, to him. Yes, she’d been the one to tell them about Trenton but it was likely just a mistake. Like Jacobs had said, another bit of misinformation.

“So, where was it? Where were you going?”

Matt still said nothing.

“Come on, Parkman. Don’t push me.”

Matt wasn’t going to budge.

“Fine,” Nathan said shortly. “I figure there are two ways this can go down. First is, I let these guys here work you over for a bit; try and loosen your tongue. They’re good at their jobs, extremely good, but I think we both know that isn’t going to work. You’re not afraid of pain and you’d rather die than tell me what I want to know.”

Nathan had gotten up now, moved across the room and rapped twice on the door.

It was then, just then that Matt was sure he picked up something Nathan hadn’t meant him too. Up until now, Nathan had been toying with him. Purposely taunting him with his thoughts. But with his back turned, and surrounded by his men, Nathan must have assumed Matt couldn’t make out anything distinct or he certainly wouldn’t have thought what he did; wouldn’t have tipped his hand.

_‘Tell me already so I can kill you myself.’_

“Or,” Nathan continued, coming back across the room, “there is our second option. Any guesses?” 

He had no answer. Nothing. He was still reeling from the pure malice he’d heard in the other man’s head. Matt had long known that Nathan held him almost solely responsible for Peter’s death, but until now he hadn’t really understood.

Nathan was going to kill him; without a doubt, without hesitation and without remorse. 

There was a huge difference between expecting an event to take place and putting it down as a certainty.

Matt had been so blindsided by it all that he was completely unprepared for what happened next.

Before he was aware, the door opened again and he felt his stomach drop as two more men entered the room dragging Audrey between them.

She locked eyes with him briefly and he could hear her, the way he could always hear her, loud and clear and practically screaming in his head.

_‘Don’t say anything. No matter what, don’t tell him. Don’t tell him.’_

“Any guesses now?” Nathan asked him with a sick smile.

Matt must have involuntarily tried to get to his feet because the next thing he knew there was one man on either side of him pushing him back into his chair.

“Let her go,” Matt said. “She doesn’t know anything. She’s not involved in any of this.”

“Now,” Nathan said, as Audrey was placed in the chair he had just occupied. “Now I think we’ll get somewhere.”

Matt looked into Audrey’s eyes and saw the panic. Saw by the bruises on her face and body that they had already beaten as much information as they could out of her. Now they were either going to do it again for his benefit or worse, something much worse.

Even if he could push aside other people’s emotions now, he couldn’t do it with his own.

“Tell me where she is,” Nathan said.

“I don’t know,” Matt said automatically.

“No,” Nathan returned. “That won’t work.”

Pulling a gun from a holster hidden by his jacket, Nathan placed it to Audrey’s temple.

“I really don’t know,” Matt yelled, once again held in place by the men beside him. “We got separated after we escaped. She could be anywhere.”

Audrey’s eyes were now shut tight with a few tears escaping down the side of her face.

“Where were you going?”

“Trenton,” Matt answered. “Like you said. We were headed for Trenton.”

“That’s a lie,” Nathan spat at him.

_‘Please,’_ he heard from Audrey.

“It’s not,” Matt argued. “We were. That’s where the colony is. That’s…”

Again, it was so fast. Nathan had hit him with the handle of the gun almost before Matt could register that he’d even moved.

Stars swam before his eyes and he felt like he might pass out.

Matt fought it, fought it hard and recovered as best he could. Sitting upright once more, he tried to focus. Tried to concentrate but felt like he might be sick.

“No it’s not,” Nathan almost screamed. “We know it’s not there! Now, tell me the truth or say goodbye to Audrey.”

“Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t do it, Matt. Don’t…”

“There’s still time to save yourself and your friend.”

“Matt, don’t say anything. It’s not worth it. You know they aren’t going to let either of us go.”

“You’re running out of time.”

“No. Please, no…”

“It’s in Allentown,” Matt said.

The room went silent.

Nathan and Audrey were both looking at him with surprise.

“How do you know that?” Nathan asked as he put his gun away.

“The man who helped us escape said so,” Matt answered, unwilling to look at either of them. “He said Trenton was a decoy to throw the Order off.”

_‘So it’s real.’_

“Who was this man?”

“I don’t know his name. There wasn’t time to find out.”

Matt still wouldn’t look up but knew that Nathan hadn’t bought that last bit.

“And that’s where she is? Where she was headed?”

“I told you,” Matt answered, finally meeting the man eye-to-eye again, “I don’t know. We got separated.”

Nathan gave him a brief nod.

_‘We’ll see.’_

“Come on,” Nathan said to his men. “Let’s give these two a chance to catch up.”

Matt watched as they exited, waiting for the door to click shut before he turned back to Audrey who sat with her head in her hands.

“Audrey are you…”

“Why did you tell them?” she asked, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. “You know he’s still going to kill us, right? You have to know.”

“I had to say something,” Matt whispered urgently, very much aware that there were probably cameras and microphones in the room.

“No you didn’t. You could have kept your mouth shut.”

“And watch?” Matt asked, his voice choking up at the thought. “You think I could just keep quiet and watch them do whatever…”

Matt hung his head, shaking it slowly; as if he could shake out all the bad thoughts.

Audrey moved forward in her chair until their knees touched, pressing her head to his. Matt responded instantly by taking hold of her hands.

_‘What about Claire?’_

“She’ll be fine,” he whispered.

“But you told them…”

Matt looked back up at her, squeezing her hands tightly.

_‘It’s not in Allentown.’_

Audrey flinched, fixing him with an odd look. It was almost as if she was surprised to hear his voice in her head. 

He loosened his grip on her hands, sitting back to take her in.

But Audrey quickly recovered.

_‘You’re sure?’_ he heard her ask back.

Matt was still apprehensive. 

Something felt off, he felt off. It wasn’t a headache, it was closer to seasickness. Like the floor wouldn’t hold still.

_‘He doesn’t trust me.’_

That snapped him out of it.

Matt moved back in, shaking his head before kissing her passionately.

“Don’t say that,” he broke off long enough to whisper in her ear. “You know it’s not true.”

“So why won’t you…”

“To protect you.”

Audrey looked struck.

“It’s better for you if you don’t know.”

She looked at a complete loss. Like she couldn’t understand why he’d do this. Why he’d take this kind of risk.

“But, they’ll kill you when they find out,” she said. “They’ll…”

“They probably already know, but it doesn’t matter. Nathan’s going to kill me no matter what I say.”

“He could change his mind.”

Matt shook his head. Audrey wasn’t thinking clearly, couldn’t be. There was no way Nathan was going to let him live.

“Next time he comes,” Matt said in a low voice, “he won’t waste any time. I don’t want to do it, but… I can’t watch them hurt you. I can’t. I’m going to try and make a deal with him first. Try and… I don’t know. I don’t think he’ll…”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because I love you,” Matt answered honestly.

“You’d really tell him to save me. You would.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

‘What about your friends?’

“I can just hope they’ll understand,” he answered. “That they know I didn’t want…”

Matt sighed, rubbing his eyes vigorously. Hating the position he was in. Hating having to decide between the two most important people in his life.

But Claire wasn’t here. She wasn’t in immediate danger. Audrey was.

“They’ll be fine,” he said for his own sake.

_‘Will she?’_ Audrey’s voice asked.

_‘Claire’s smart and she won’t be alone. Nathan will have a hell of a time finding them in New York.’_

Audrey hardly paused after hearing him. Almost as soon as he was done she leaned back in for a kiss as intense as the first had been.

_‘I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.’_

Matt pulled away in shock, recognizing neither voice nor face.

“I really am,” Jenny repeated.


	15. Council

“Still nothing?”

“Sorry.”

“But that face…”

“I think it’s time you consider the possibility that it may just be a dream,” Beatrice said with a sigh.

Jonah shook his head, certain it meant more. That the face from his dreams, that person, was somehow the key to unlocking his past.

“It’s like I’ve told you before,” Beatrice continued. “Without something solid, a name or a place, something concrete, I can’t do it. Even with these things, sometimes it’s not possible. I’m still learning so much about what I can do, how far I can go. I wish for your sake that I could do more, but…”

“I know,” he interrupted with half a smile.

“Are you sure there was nothing more? Nothing new?”

“Positive,” Jonah answered. “It was just like always. The storm, the empty streets and her. Always her. Running away and looking back at me…”

He didn’t know how to describe it further. It was like the harder he tried to fix her face in his mind, the more it slipped away until all he was left with was a mere impression. Hopeful and naïve. Terrified and beautiful. Strong. Always, strong.

“Beatrice,” a young man called from the door. “It’s nearly time.”

“Thank you. I’ll be right there.”

“I’m keeping you from more important things again,” Jonah said, only half serious.

“More arguing. More questions. More indecisiveness. No decisions,” she stated with a laugh. “Very important.”

Jonah smiled back at her, knowing she didn’t mean it. That Beatrice, like the rest of them, was just growing impatient and worried. Life had been too easy lately. It felt like the calm before the storm.

“You should be on the council,” Beatrice added, standing to go. “You found this place. You were the one who first thought it was all possible. David…”

“David’s intentions are good,” Jonah cut in quite quickly.

“Whose intentions don’t you think that of?”

Jonah shrugged as if caught, admitting to the fault.

“That’s exactly why I shouldn’t be on the council. Among other reasons.”

“Nonsense. It should be you. David worries me.”

“What does Albert say?” Jonah asked, suddenly serious about the matter.

“Same as always,” Beatrice answered. “That he’d know if something was wrong.”

Jonah nodded, accepting that as well.

“Would you take his place if we asked?”

“You know…”

“I know nothing of sort,” Beatrice cut in sharply. “I’m serious. You’d have a lot of support.”

“If you want the popular vote you should be talking to Jacobs.”

“But it should be you,” she argued.

“Why?” he asked. “I can’t do anything. I can’t remember anything. I’m not cut out for it. I…”

“You’re a good person,” Beatrice answered. “You have a good heart. I know you’d make a great leader.”

“You’ve got the wrong guy.”

****

There was a general buzz in the assembly room as the people gathered together. Claire hadn’t wanted to come but Niki and Micah, with Jacobs help, had persuaded her to join them. Together, the four of them found their way to the front of the room, waiting for the three members of the colony’s council to appear.

“What are these things like anyway?” Niki asked Jacobs, liking the old man despite some of his odder ways. Maybe even perhaps because of them.

“Kind of like town hall meetings,” he returned. “Typically they come out, say their spiel, and then take questions if anybody has them. It’s fairly routine.”

“And they decide everything?” Niki continued to ask. “Everything for everyone?”

“Mostly,” Jacobs answered. “There are some things that are handed down, every day things like housekeeping rotations, general perimeter guard duty; the things we all take turns doing. Each task has a supervisor and all the supervisors meet and decide who does what and when.”

“Sounds a bit military,” Niki commented.

“It is,” he said, “a bit. But there are no stockades, if you’re curious.”

“So no troublemakers?”

“None so far. We are self-policing and mostly a quiet set.”

Niki nodded silently, not sure still how she felt about any of this.

The lighting in the room wasn’t bad considering that they only had a few generators going. Mostly it was lit with candles except towards the front where the council would speak. There had been a small platform set up for them, as most of the crowd was standing, but no microphones which Claire thought was odd. She wasn’t sure how anyone would be able to hear, the racket was awful. Or maybe she’d become so used to her small circle of friends that this many people was too overpowering.

After a few more minutes wait the doors opened and the room grew quiet as the three members of the council entered.

Claire’s first impression was that of surprise. Somehow she’d expected something more than the three average people who stood before them now, but it was just two regular looking men and one woman. 

“The man on the left,” Jacobs whispered to them, pointing slightly at the average-sized blond man, “that’s David Spencer. He just joined the council a few months ago.”

“Why’s that?” Claire asked back.

“Another time,” he said. “It’s a long story. The woman you see, that is Beatrice Cabalo. Very bright. Very gifted.”

“She’s so young,” Niki commented, taking in the Filipina’s appearance.

“Don’t let that fool you,” Jacobs said with a smile.

“Who’s the last man?” Micah asked quietly, staring at the tall figure who had just made his way onto the stage. He was hard to miss. The African-American man had a full gray beard, long coat and cane, and had to be at least seventy years old.

“That is Albert,” Jacobs answered.

“Albert what?” Claire asked.

“Just Albert,” he replied. “He says he has no need for a last name. A lot of folks around here feel the same.”

“Thank you all for coming,” David began causing all mummers to cease immediately. “We know it’s been awhile since our last public meeting and we realize a lot of you are concerned. There have been a lot of rumors circulating about the Order, about rations, and about deaths among us. Let me start first with the Order.”

“He’s very smooth,” Claire whispered to Niki.

“Political,” she returned, eyebrow raised.

Neither of them liked it.

“The Order,” he went on, “is not planning to invade us. You all know that several of our people, at their own risk, have been frequently in and out of their territory and there is no truth in this at all.”

At this the crowd began to break out in angry whispers.

David looked flummoxed.

“Please,” Beatrice said, stepping forward; hushing them with a word. “Please. We can only tell you what we know. Henry Jacobs has returned today and has said as much himself. Most of the Order still does not believe we exist. People who do hear of us are still heading to the decoy city. We aren’t relaxing our posture, but as of right now we see no danger.”

“What have you seen?” a woman’s voice asked from the crowd.

Beatrice lowered her head, and Claire saw for the first time that she was indeed young; probably only a few years older than herself.

“Our contact inside the Order was killed, so I can not see anything right now.”

Suddenly the room was alive with voices.

“Did they find out who he was?”

“Was there anything new?”

“They’re killing us now, I told you. They aren’t bothering with internment.”

“How did it happen?”

“Settle down,” Albert called out sharply, rapping his cane on the floor. “Everyone. This is no way to start. We don’t know how he died, just that three nights ago when Beatrice tried to contact him, it was too late. We will get the answers we need, but all of us must have patience and above all no one must panic.”

There seemed to be a general murmur of agreement and Claire got the impression that even though there was no official leader among them, Albert was the unofficial one.

“Um,” David began again after a lengthy pause. “We were also going to discuss rations. With our growing numbers, we will have to do a better job conserving…”

Claire’s attention began to wan. She had the distinct impression that someone was watching her.

She tried to regain her focus, to concentrate on the speaker at hand, but she couldn’t shake the feeling.

It was probably exhaustion; the last few days, especially last night, had been grueling. Even with her super recuperation skills, she needed a break. A real rest.

Likely it was just paranoia. Claire wasn’t used to large crowds, or being around people she did not know. It had been a very long time since she’d been in public like this.

Still.

Glancing around from side-to-side, she saw no one out of the ordinary. All eyes were on the stage.

But it wouldn’t go away.

Finally she looked over her shoulder to scan the back of the room. All the people nearest her, just behind her, were also watching the stage. They were all listening as far as she could tell with rapt attention. Everyone except…

At the very back of the room, leaning against the wall, she saw him. Claire looked right at the man who was looking right back at her.

It seemed like everything had stopped at that instant. Claire felt her breath hitch. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be real. He was dead. He was gone. It couldn’t be, it just couldn’t be him.

“Peter?”

In a snap, the room was alive again. People began to move about, hustling around and talking again at full volume. The meeting had ended and the crowd was rapidly dispersing.

“You ready to go?” Niki asked her, tugging gently on her arm and drawing her attention back to them.

No one had heard her. No one else had seen.

“Claire?” Micah called out, growing concerned.

“I saw him.”

“Saw who?” Niki asked.

“I saw Peter,” Claire answered in an agitated tone. “I saw him. He was in the back of the room just now and he saw me too. He was right there.”

Claire pointed at the now empty patch of wall.

Niki and Micah exchanged a nervous look.

“I think you may need to go lay down for a bit,” Niki suggested. “You’ve had a…”

“I know what I saw,” Claire argued. “He was there. How could you think I wouldn’t know him…”

“I’m not saying you didn’t see him,” Niki tried. “I just think that…”

“Jacobs,” Claire said quickly, ignoring Niki and taking hold of the older man’s arm. “Did you see? There was a man in the very back. He had dark hair and a long coat. A hat, he was hearing a hat.”

“What kind of hat?” he returned. “A baseball hat?”

Niki shook her head, but not unkindly, hoping the man wasn’t just playing with her.

"Yes."

“I saw him,” Jacobs said, not understanding her urgency or the looks he was getting from Niki. “Jonah always stands in the back.”

“Jonah?” Claire repeated, suddenly crestfallen.

“Yes,” Jacobs continued. “Nice guy. He wears the hat to hide the scar, which I’m sure would make an interesting story if only he could remember it.”

“Scar?” Niki asked, perking up. “He has a scar?”

“Where is it?” Micah joined in. “Is it on his face?”

“I told you,” Claire said firmly. “I knew it was him.”

“Hold on,” Jacobs said, putting his hands up to stop them from questioning him. “What am I missing here? What’s going on?”

“That man,” Claire said. “That man you said was Jonah, that’s not who he is. He’s our friend, Peter. I know it. It’s been three…”

Claire couldn’t continue; her emotions wouldn’t let her.

“Can we meet him?” Niki continued. “We need to be sure.”

“Of course,” Jacobs answered with a look of concern. “I can take you to him now if you’d like, but I’m not sure how much good it will do.”

“You don’t believe…”

“I’m not saying that,” Jacobs said, interrupting Claire. “I’m saying that Jonah might not believe you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Jonah doesn’t remember anything about before he came here,” Jacobs continued. “He showed up one day when we were still looking for a place to begin and brought us here. He didn’t know his name, his age, where he was from, nothing. We only call him Jonah because Albert said it was appropriate. It kind of stuck.”

“Well, what about his powers?” Niki asked. “If…”

“He doesn’t have any,” Jacobs said with a shake of his head.

“Then it can’t be Peter,” Micah said sadly.

“Unless Sylar…” Claire began, but couldn’t bring herself to finish.

“I’ll take you to him,” Jacobs said firmly. “To the council as well, they’ll want to meet you. Albert in particular likes to welcome everyone new. I imagine that’s why Jonah took off so quickly anyway. They are probably all together.”

“When can we go?” Claire asked.

“Is now soon enough?”


	16. Negotiation

Jenny had left the room as quickly as she could, giving Matt Parkman no further explanation. She felt bad for him, she really did. Especially considering what was going to happen next. As soon as she exited the room, two men entered it. She was their cue.

She didn’t want to think about it, but Jenny was only doing what she had to. She needed this. She needed to remind herself of that.

Opening the door to the monitor room, she slipped inside and waited.

“I want the reconnaissance team back in a week,” Nathan Petrelli was saying to one of his flunkies. “They go in, observe, and get out again. No contact is to be made if they find anyone. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well,” he said, turning suddenly to Jenny, “are you done playing kiss-y face with Parkman?”

“Sir…” she started to say, but his glare stopped her cold.

“That was a complete waste of time,” he barked. “And your, what is it, fourth failure now? Is that right? Four in a row?”

“But he…”

“Although, threatening him with Hanson was a good idea, I will give you that. A good idea wasted, because now even if we do bring her in, he’s not going to believe it. He’s going to think it’s you again and we’ll get nowhere.”

“Sir, I…”

“I’m sorry,” Nathan snapped, “were you saying something?”

“I know where it is,” she nearly whispered. “He told me. He…”

Nathan looked at her incredulously.

“Jenny,” Taylor said from the back of the room, “we were watching the entire time. We know he didn’t. We were listening in.”

Jenny couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. Of course they hadn’t heard. He’d purposely told her in a way where they couldn’t hear.

“I can explain,” she began, more eagerly. “He told me telepathically.”

Mac shook his head, clearly not trusting her. Even Taylor looked a bit doubtful. But the only person that mattered, Nathan Petrelli, did not. He looked almost pleased.

“So?” he asked, his voice much more pleasant than before. “Where is it? Where am I sending the second team? The first one is already on their way to Allentown, just in case.”

Jenny felt the anticipation in the room. The excitement. She’d done it, she’d finally done it. It was the first time she felt secure in her place.

Looking up at the monitors, to the only one still on, her elation deflated as she saw what was happening.

Matt Parkman was being beaten by two men while still handcuffed and he wasn’t even putting up a fight. He wasn’t even trying to defend himself.

She’d done that too.

“Jenny,” Taylor said tentatively, “don’t keep Mr. Petrelli waiting.”

“If I tell you…”

“If?” Nathan asked with a sharp laugh.

Jenny didn’t back down. She knew her situation was, at best, tenuous, but right now she had the upper hand.

“If,” she repeated with resolve. “If I tell you, I want some assurances.”

“Jenny,” Mac said, joining the conversation, “what in the hell do you…”

But Nathan waved him off without ever turning his attention from her.

“No, I’m intrigued,” he said. “At least someone in this department has some backbone. Let’s hear it then, what do you want?”

“Don’t kill him.”

“No,” Nathan said, shaking his head slightly and with no hesitation. “He’s going to die. He’ll be our first public execution, an example. That’s not going to change.”

“And the other two? Are they negotiable?”

“Why do you care?” he asked her.

Jenny didn’t say anything. Couldn’t explain it. She wasn’t sure why herself.

“Fine,” Nathan agreed after a pause. “Suresh and Hanson live. Satisfied?”

“I want to talk to him,” Jenny said. “Alone. I want to talk to Parkman. No cameras, no microphones. Just us.”

“Fine,” Nathan repeated, this time a bit more tersely.

Jenny nodded and to her surprise Nathan held out his hand to her.

“I always shake on an agreement,” he said to her.

Jenny reached out to do just that when suddenly she found he had taken hold of her hand and pulled her right up next to him in the blink of an eye.

“I’m going to let you get away with this this time,” he whispered in her ear, “but don’t try it again. Do we understand one another?”

“Yes, sir,” Jenny said quickly as Nathan squeezed her hand once tightly and then let her go.

“So, the colony?” Nathan asked. “Where is it?”

****

Audrey and Mohinder stood on opposite sides of the cell they’d been placed in; staring at one another and equally suspicious.

After everything that had happened how could they trust what they saw?

The room was bigger than her last cell they’d kept her in and even larger than the interrogation room had been. It looked more like a holding cell except it was entirely concrete; no bars, just a few cots, a sink and a single metal door with a small window made of security glass.

And no surveillance.

Audrey was fairly certain of it. She’d checked all the usual places, and a few of the more unusual ones as well, and she had yet to find a camera or microphone.

If anything that only made her more suspicious of the man with her.

“Listen,” Mohinder said with a sigh, “I don’t know who you are. If you are really who you look like, but…”

He stopped mid-sentence as the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard.

Both of them moved towards the door to see what was happening and immediately saw a man’s face in the window.

“Move back,” he shouted at them.

Mohinder complied immediately, but Audrey hesitated.

“Don’t be stupid,” the man said to her and she finally relented. 

She knew there was nothing to gain, that he was likely not alone and more than likely armed.

Once she was back against the far wall, next to Mohinder, the door opened.

The man in the window stepped inside, gun raised and held the door open for a different man who, to both of their surprise, was half dragging Matt with him.

“Got a visitor for you,” the man with the gun said as the other man dropped Matt on the floor.

Audrey was already moving towards him when the door was slammed shut, locking them all inside once more.

“Wait,” Mohinder said, the urgency in his voice stopping her. “You don’t know if that’s really…”

She paused, considering it, before ultimately deciding that it was a risk she’d just have to take.

“Matt?” she called out, kneeling down to turn him over and cringing as she did. He was fairly beaten, but more disturbing than that, covered in dry blood. His shirt was soaked in it, but it looked old.

“Is he alive?” Mohinder asked, having joined her despite his own warning.

“I think so,” Audrey answered. “I don’t think…”

Audrey stopped as Matt opened and blinked his eyes several times.

“Matt?” she called out again, hoping he was coming to.

His eyes finally seemed to come back into focus; as they did he took one hard look at Audrey hovering above him and shut them tight once more.

“Not you,” he said, shaking his head slightly. “Not again. I’m not… I’m not talking anymore. Just go away. Leave me alone, I’m done. I’m done with you.”

Audrey was mortified.

“Help me move him,” Mohinder said, taking Matt by the arm.

“Don’t…” Matt began to protest, but was too weak.

Audrey reluctantly took hold of his other arm and helped hoist him to his feet. Together they lay him on the nearest cot.

“Don’t take it personally,” Mohinder said to her. “I think, whatever they did to us, they did to him as well.”

“What?”

“The woman,” Mohinder continued. “Didn’t you see her?”

“I saw you,” Audrey answered, looking from one man to the other.

Matt looked as if he’d passed out again and she couldn’t say she was sorry for it. She’d rather he didn’t talk right now, not in this state. Not when he didn’t even believe who she was.

“And I saw Peter,” Mohinder said.

“What?”

“Yes,” Mohinder answered. “At first, it was Peter in the room with me. Telling me… well, all sorts of things. I’m not sure how much was true and how much was just said to get me to cooperate. But after awhile, I couldn’t believe it. I knew it wasn’t him and…”

“It changed,” Audrey said with a short nod. “Did you get sick?”

“Very,” he answered, “but not before I got a look at her. The real her. She must be able to incite hallucinations, but I don’t think she’s very good at it. I don’t think she’s very strong.”

“She did a good enough job on Matt,” Audrey stated. “He believed her. He still thinks I’m…”

“Of course he believed her,” Mohinder said. “He thought it was you. Matt would believe anything you told him.”

Right now Audrey found little comfort in that sentiment.

“So what now?” Audrey asked. “You know if they have Matt that Claire…”

Matt stirred on the bed beside them, catching both of their attention. His eyes were open again, but this time he looked more lucid.

“They don’t,” he answered. “They don’t have her. Not yet.”

Audrey tentatively sat down next to him.

“It’s you, right?” he asked. “Really you? I’m not…”

“No, it is,” Audrey said quickly.

_‘Tell me something only you and I’d know.’_

“Um,” Audrey hesitated, “I don’t know… ‘Old Yeller’ is the only movie that’s ever made you cry?”

“I didn’t mean out loud,” he said as Mohinder gave an involuntary laugh.

“I’m sorry,” Audrey said, but Matt only smiled and grasped her hand tightly.

“It’s fine,” he said. “And for the record, I was eight.”

“Are you okay?” Audrey asked, full of concern and running a hand tentatively across his forehead.

“No,” Matt answered truthfully. “I’m not. I told them where to find her. After all this time of trying… it’s going to be my fault. It’s going to be my fault if they… Whatever happens now, it’s on me.”

“You didn’t know,” Mohinder said quietly. “No one will blame…”

“I blame me,” Matt said flatly.


	17. Damaged

Jacobs led them to a room and asked them to wait a minute while he explained the situation to Jonah and the council.

Claire was so nervous. She knew she was right, she had to be right, but part of her worried about the reception they’d receive. How would he take the news? Would he remember them? Would he remember her?

It seemed like an eternity from the time Jacobs disappeared into the room until he rejoined them.

“Ready?” he asked Claire.

She nodded, feeling a bit faint.

It was almost too good to be true.

Jacobs opened the door and ushered them inside. Albert met them at the door, shook each of their hands and smiled warmly. Claire’s eyes fell next on David who didn’t look quite so happy to see them, nodding crisply and saying nothing. Beatrice was further in the room, standing in the back beside him.

Beside Peter.

Claire smiled broadly, so relieved to see him.

She thought she might be dreaming, she had to be dreaming, but knew she wasn’t. It was really him. It was really Peter, alive and standing there in front of her.

“Hi,” he said, coming forward and extending a hand to her. “Jacobs said you know me.”

Claire took his hand in her own and felt like she might cry.

Peter smiled at her, that smile she couldn’t forget and never thought she’d see again. A little crooked and completely endearing. 

It was him, even if he didn’t know it.

Claire suddenly realized why he was smiling; she’d never let go of his hand.

“Sorry,” she said, blushing. “It’s just… it’s really good to see you.”

Niki nodded in agreement beside her, unable to keep from staring.

“Please, sit down,” Beatrice offered, indicating the chairs on the other side of the table from where they stood.

“Thank you,” Claire said, taking her up on it.

“Why don’t Micah and I go and get something to eat,” Jacobs stated. “Is that alright?”

Niki nodded in agreement.

“But…”

Niki shook her head sharply, stopping any further entreaty on her son’s part.

Jacobs and Micah left, leaving the rest of them to sort it all out; something easier said than done.

“I don’t know what to say,” Claire said, still smiling. “It’s so strange. We thought you had died. We looked and never found… How… What happened to you? Where did you go? ”

“I really couldn’t say,” Peter said, sitting opposite her and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “A lot of it’s fuzzy.”

“How did you get here?” Claire asked. “Do you…”

“I’ve always been here,” he answered. “It’s all… that’s as far as my memories go.”

“Don’t you remember…” 

“I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “I really am, but I don’t know you. I thought I might recognize… I hoped I would, but neither of you are familiar. I’m sorry, I wish I did know you. I wish…”

He trailed off and only shrugged.

“You don’t remember anything?” Niki asked, repeating Claire’s unfinished sentiment. “Nothing at all? Not Claire or Isaac? Me or Micah? What about Mohinder, do you remember him? Hiro? Does none of this…”

“What about your brother?” Claire interrupted. “Do you remember him?”

Peter looked momentarily confused before shutting his eyes and shaking his head abruptly, leaning back in his chair.

“No,” he said. “It’s all… it’s just gone. I remember, sometimes I remember… it isn’t much. Was there someone named Angela…”

“Your mother,” Claire said hopefully. “Angela was your mother’s name.”

“Was?” he asked. “What happened to her?”

“She,” Claire hesitated, “um, she died. She was killed not long before the explosion.”

“By who?”

Claire and Niki looked at one another, unsure if they should tell him or not.

“I deserve to know,” he insisted. “If you really think I’m this guy Peter, shouldn’t I know?”

“You don’t remember,” Claire said with a sigh. “You really don’t. It’s how you got that scar.”

Peter reached up and traced the scar’s path with his fingers. It started just above his left eyebrow before slipping down the bridge of his nose, ending underneath his right eye. It had always left him with an uneasy feeling; he’d always wondered how it had happened.

“You were at your mother’s home,” Claire continued. “And, uh, someone broke in. They killed her, but they were looking... You tried to stop him but… Hiro saved you. He stopped…”

Claire looked at Niki for assurance. She wasn’t used to telling near perfect strangers all their secrets.

Peter wasn’t the problem. She’d tell Peter whatever he wanted to know, it was the others. The three council members were also in the room. Claire wasn’t sure how much too say in front of them.

Niki nodded slightly and Claire felt like she could continue.

“He stopped time. Hiro, he stopped time and got you out of there. He brought you to me, but by then it was too late to stop it from scarring. It healed but it was a very deep a cut. You wouldn’t stay long enough. You wanted to get back…”

“I don’t understand,” Peter said. “Do you heal people? Is that what you do?”

“No,” Claire answered. “Not exactly.”

“What about my brother?” Peter asked, wanting to move on. He didn’t like talking about his scar, even if he couldn’t remember how it had happened. “You said I had a brother. Where is he? Is he, did he die too?”

“No,” Claire said with a small shake of her head.

“Is he with you?” Peter asked growing a little more animated, excited even. “With your friends? Jacobs said you have more friends coming, is he…”

Claire just shook her head again, looking once more to Niki.

“Your brother is Nathan Petrelli,” Niki said. “The Nathan Petrelli, head of the Order.”

“No,” Peter instantly dismissed.

“This is absurd,” David finally broke in. “You expect us to believe this? What are you after? Who sent you here?”

“You don’t have to believe it for it to be true,” Niki said firmly, earning a smile from Albert. “Why would we make this up?”

“Hundreds of reasons,” he scoffed.

“Name one,” she returned.

“We don’t need to do this,” Beatrice said, standing up and placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder. The man she knew as Jonah.

Claire shifted uncomfortable in her chair. Not liking the accusations coming from David. Liking less how easily Peter reached up and squeezed the other woman’s hand in his.

“They’re not lying,” Albert added. “If they were, I could see it. There’s no deception here. Nothing intentional at least.”

“Does that mean I am who they think I am?” Peter asked.

“It means that they think so,” Albert returned vaguely.

“So I’m back at square one,” he said. “No offense, to either of you, but I can’t believe what you’re telling me. That if all of this happened I wouldn’t somehow remember some of it. That I wouldn’t remember…”

“You need to tell him everything,” Niki said turning to Claire.

“There’s more?” Peter asked.

“Are you…” Claire began.

“It’s the only way he’ll believe you,” Niki cut in. “Even if he doesn’t, these three are going to want to hear it. They need to hear it.”

Claire looked around the room; all eyes were on her now staring back expectantly.

“I’m not sure…”

“Just tell them what you remember,” Niki urged. “What you can.”

“Okay,” she said hesitantly. “It was here, in New York, three years ago. Isaac had painted these pictures of an explosion. Hiro had witnessed it. We all knew it was coming…”

Peter leaned forward, suddenly caught by the expression on her face. He didn’t want to say it, to get her hopes up, but it was familiar. He really didn’t recognize her face, but the expression, that expression just now was very familiar to him.

“Go on,” Niki said gently.

“You had a dream that you caused it,” Claire continued. “That you were the reason behind the explosion. Matt had tried to convince you that it wasn’t true. We all tried. He knew a man, a man who could emit radiation. Matt was certain… But so were you… In the end it turned out to be Sylar.”

“What do you know about Sylar?” David questioned.

“More than I want to,” Claire returned.

“Later,” Beatrice admonished David before turning back to Claire. “Please, continue with your story.”

“Sylar had the list,” Claire explained, condensing as much as she could. “He knew which of us had abilities, even if he didn’t exactly know what those abilities might be. He didn’t care, he just wanted them. It’s what he did. He could see into people, see how it all worked. Whatever it is that makes us this way, he could see it.”

“And he could mimic it? After he saw them,” Peter added. “He could change his own…”

“Yes,” Claire said quickly. “He could see it and alter his own makeup somehow to match. No one was ever quite sure how he did it but...”

“He took their brains.”

“That’s right,” Claire nodded.

Peter looked at her with a mixture of dread and curiosity. Almost as if he didn’t want to know the rest but couldn’t help and listen.

“By the time he arrived back in New York he was nearly unstoppable. He’s gained so much power… we didn’t know what to do. And he was looking for us. Somehow he had found out who was meant to stop him and he was hunting us down.”

“Sylar killed my mother.”

Claire nodded.

“Was he looking for me? I don’t…” Peter said, shaking his head again in an odd way. “I don’t have any ability. Why would he be hunting me down? Why would I even be helping you if there was nothing…”

“He wasn’t looking for you,” Claire supplied for him. “He was looking for Nathan.”

“Nathan Petrelli is not one of us,” David cut in once more angrily. “That’s a rumor. A false…”

“No he does,” Peter said quickly. “He can fly.”

“You remember,” Claire said brightly.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Peter quickly admitted, confusion setting in once more.

“Please,” Beatrice said, urging her to continue.

“We knew we were running out of time,” Claire went on, “so we came up with a plan. There was no way to contain Sylar, we knew he had to be killed. You…”

“I don’t do anything,” Peter said harshly. “I don’t believe…”

“Yes you do,” Niki shot back. “You can absorb other people’s powers temporarily. At least, you used to. I don’t know if Sylar took it from you or if you just don’t remember how, maybe you don’t want to remember, but you are like us.”

Peter shook his head and looked down at the table between them.

“The plan was that you, me, Hiro and Matt were to lure him out,” Claire said, determined to go on. “I was to stay with you, to keep you from getting hurt. Matt was going to warn us, he could hear his thoughts; he was going to tell us what to expect. Hiro was going to stop time and give us any advantages he could.”

“When it came down to it,” Niki added, “I was supposed to hold him back. Hold him down so my husband could stop his heart. Nathan was going to get us out of there if he had to, if it got bad.”

“But that didn’t happen.”

“No,” Claire said shaking her head. “Like I said, he was on to us. Isaac had painted when and where it was supposed to happen but I guess the future sometimes changes. He was early. He cornered me, you and Matt. Without Hiro and the others…”

Claire paused to check her emotions.

“You told us to run,” Claire finished. “You told Matt to get me out of there, to find help. You wanted us to save ourselves. Neither of us wanted to go, but we knew that alone… without everyone working together, there was no way… He was just too strong.”

“There was no explosion?” Peter asked quietly.

“None.”

“And all this damage,” he continued, leaning in as if they were the only two in the room, “all this destruction, it was me? It was me and Sylar?”

Claire looked him straight in the eyes and could only nod.


	18. Visitor

Matt had drifted in and out of sleep after his brief talk with Mohinder and Audrey. He had no way of telling what time it was or how long he’d been with them, but he assumed it was sometime late in the next day.

His whole body ached, but other than that Matt found he’d managed to escape any major injuries. True, those guys probably cracked a few of his ribs, but that wasn’t going to kill him.

No, Nathan wanted to do that himself.

“You’re awake,” Audrey whispered, catching his eye.

“Just barely.”

“Mohinder fell asleep a few hours ago,” she continued, casting a look over her shoulder.

Matt leaned up a bit and could see the other man in the cot on the far side of the room. Mohinder was facing away from them using a blanket to block out the light.

Audrey had pulled her own cot as close as she could get it to Matt’s and showed every sign of having not slept a wink.

“I think he wanted to give us some privacy,” Audrey said in a near laugh.

“That was nice of him,” Matt said, choking down a laugh as well. “Oh man, I think I’m delirious.”

“Me too,” Audrey said. “Maybe I just want to be. It would be easier to think this was all some insane dream than admit it’s really happening.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed, sobering up with that thought.

“What do you think they’re going to do?” Audrey asked in a hushed voice, squeezing his hand.

“I’m not sure,” Matt lied.

It wasn’t a complete lie. He really didn’t know what Nathan was going to do with Audrey or Mohinder.

“You’d tell me, right?” Audrey asked, sensing he was holding back something. “You’d tell me if you knew. I’d rather…”

There was a loud rap on the door that caused all three of them to jump.

The guard that had helped bring Matt in was back and once more motioning for them to stand against the wall.

Mohinder, still sleepy, yawned and nodded in an almost annoyed manner. Audrey got up as well, ready to help Matt if he needed it, but as soon as they started to move there was another series of taps on the window.

“Parkman over there,” the man yelled, indicating the wall closer to the door.

“No,” Audrey said, looking concerned.

“It’s alright,” Matt said, breaking her hold on his arm and moving to where the guard had wanted him.

“Come on,” Mohinder said, gently pulling Audrey with him to their appointed spot.

As soon as they were all in place the door opened. Once more the guard held a gun on them as another man came in and put a pair of handcuffs back on Matt.

_‘I can’t believe we’re wasting our time just because she wants to see him.’_

“Where are you taking him?” Audrey asked, moving forward without realizing it.

“Step back,” the guard warned.

“Audrey,” Mohinder urged, pulling harder now on her arm.

“It’s alright,” Matt repeated. “Really. I’ll be back.”

The guard looked briefly at Matt, surprised, and then back at Audrey.

“Listen to the man,” he said to Audrey. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“They’re just taking me to meet someone,” Matt said as the other man began to usher him out of the cell. “I’ve got a visitor, that’s all. I promise.”

Audrey tried to be assured by that, but wasn’t. 

Matt knew she wouldn’t be easy until he was back with her again, but he was telling her the truth. He hoped she knew that.

He let the guards lead him out of the room and down to another cell, smaller this time, where they placed him in a chair and redid his handcuffs behind his back.

_‘I hope Jenny knows what she’s doing.’_

Matt hadn’t formed any expectations of what was about to happen. The guards had probably been warned to watch what they thought around him, and the few vague clues he had managed to glean out of them weren’t very useful.

But whoever was coming to talk to him was obviously named Jenny. Matt just hoped she didn’t want to kick his ass too. He wasn’t sure how much more of that his ego could take.

Finally the door opened and Matt laughed when he saw who walked in.

“I was wondering who Jenny was,” he said to the young Asian woman he’d last seen in the interrogation room.

“The handcuffs aren’t necessary,” she said to the guard.

“Are you sure?” the man asked her, surprised.

“He’s not going to hurt me,” Jenny answered with complete confidence. “Besides, I can protect myself.”

“Alright,” the man said as he took them off. ‘It’s your funeral.’

Matt didn’t move, stayed seated as he was expected too, until the guard left. Once they were alone he made to stand but Jenny quickly shook her head.

“No,” she said uneasily, still standing near the door. “Keep sitting. I wasn’t lying, I can hurt you, but I don’t want to.”

“Don’t you trust me?” he said sarcastically.

“Is that what did it?” she asked in return. “That seemed to convince you I was real. Does she think that a lot around you? Do you have trust issues in general or…”

“Why am I here?” 

“I want to help you.”

“And?”

“I’m curious,” Jenny admitted. “About you. About what you do. I’ve never met anyone else like me.”

Matt shook his head, finding it extremely hard to believe.

“It’s true,” she continued. “I’m the only one here. At least, I think I am. They might be keeping us separated, afraid…”

“That you’ll overthrow the government?” Matt provided.

“Something like that,” she said with a smile. “Anyway, I didn’t realize what I could do until after… but you’ve known for some time, right?”

Matt nodded.

“How do you control it?” she asked. “I still struggle, every day. Sometimes I just know the right way to do something, like with you, but other times…”

“Wait, are you serious?” Matt asked. “You are, aren’t you? You want me to help you… you actually want me to help you figure out better ways to interrogate people? Torture people? People like me; like my friends?”

“I can help you, too. I already have.”

“How have you helped me?” Matt asked angrily, getting to his feet despite her previous warning.

“Sit down,” she said sharply, taking a step backwards.

“Answer me first.”

“I got him to spare your friends’ lives,” she said in a rush. “He was going to kill all of you, but I made him promise…”

“Nathan? You made him promise? Nathan’s promises don’t mean anything.”

Jenny sighed.

_‘I know.’_

Matt acknowledged the thought with a nod and returned to his chair.

“All I really wanted from him was to get here,” she continued, breathing easier now that Matt had seemingly calmed down. “I knew that if I could just talk to you…”

“But did you really expect me just offer up any advice I might have? Give you some helpful tips and pointers on manipulation? After what you’ve done?”

“Don’t you get it?” she said, stepping forward without caution. “You and I working together…”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“So you’d rather die? I’m talking about getting you out of here. Right now.”

_‘What’s wrong with him? Doesn’t he understand what I’m offering?’_

“Exactly what is that?” he asked. “What are you offering?”

“A chance,” she said eagerly, coming even closer to him. “I don’t want to be here any more than you do. I’m only an asset as long as I can provide what they need and what they need is your…”

She stopped and gave Matt an odd look, a scrutinizing one.

And this time he felt it. 

It was almost like a tug, but gentle. Whatever Jenny was doing, it wasn’t an overtly invasive act. It was like she’d said, curiosity.

“Is she your daughter or…” Jenny said with a shake of her head. “I can’t… usually I can tell but it’s confusing. There’s so much…”

“Stop it.”

Matt felt his stomach jerk as the connection broke.

“I’m sorry,” Jenny said. “Like I said, sometimes I can’t control it. I could just see her there… It’s easier with you. Why do you think that is?”

“I’m not a science experiment.”

“And when people fight,” she continued, ignoring what he’d said, “it’s worse. For them and me. This is exactly why I need your help. Some days I’m completely overwhelmed with these images. And other days there’s nothing at all.”

“I’m not sure what you want me to tell you. Even if I wanted to help you, I can’t.”

“Well, can’t you at least tell me how you learned to control your power?”

“I’m still learning.”

Jenny smiled at him oddly, like she’d caught him in a lie.

“What did she do?”

“I don’t know…” Matt started to say, but he did.

“I saw her again,” Jenny said with more enthusiasm. “Is that it? Were you thinking of her just now? She did something, fixed something, yes?”

“Stop it,” Matt said, louder than before. “Get out of my head.”

“I can almost… it’s like I can read your emotions. Exactly how you feel about her, all written down for me to use.”

Matt struggled. He could actually feel her in his head, picking apart his memories. Rifling through his head as if it was a filing cabinet. There was nothing gentle about it this time.

It was overwhelming and dizzying sensation. He could barely lift his head anymore. He was certain he was going to be sick any minute now, but he couldn’t make it stop. He couldn’t make her stop.

Matt was doing everything he could to keep her out but nothing was working. The harder he tried the more accretive she became.

“Hopes and fears,” Jenny said, ecstatic now. “This is what… this is the thing I’ve been trying to figure out. This what I’ve been trying to do. It’s one thing to know how you feel about someone, but what you fear…”

Matt looked up and cringed.

Jenny wasn’t with him any longer; it was Claire.

“This is it,” Jenny said to him in Claire’s voice. “This is what you’re afraid of.”

“No,” Matt said, shaking his head but strangely unable to look away. “Stop. Stop doing this.”

It was like a nightmare, a waking nightmare. Part of him knew it wasn’t real, that it was only Jenny somehow tricking his mind, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying.

Claire was there, in front of him, hanging from the ceiling. Her skin was gray. Her head was tilted to one side at an unnatural angle. Her hair hung over her face.

And still, she was talking to him.

“This isn’t real,” Matt said weakly. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t…”

“Then why do you keep seeing it? If it isn’t real, why isn’t it going away?”

“Stop it, Jenny. Stop doing this…”

“If it wasn’t real it would disappear.”

“Get out of my head!”

“You’re not afraid of dying, are you? You’re just afraid of the people you love…”

_‘Stop!’_

Matt had screamed it at her, had shoved the thought at her with everything he had left.

Jenny gasped, stumbling to the floor.

Everything was back to normal. Matt could breathe again; he no longer felt nauseous. The image still lingered in his mind, but it was controllable now. Definitely no longer real.

“How did you…” she asked, eyes wide with fear.

“I can protect myself, too.”

Jenny hesitantly brought a hand to her nose, wiping it quickly and looking at the blood she’d found there in shock.

“What did you do to me?” she yelled, hurrying to her feet.

Jenny rushed to the door, throwing frantic looks over her shoulder as she banged on the door for the guard.

“I was going to help you,” she said in a near whisper. “I was. I did help you. And this is how…”

Matt said nothing. Just sat perfectly still in the chair and waited. Still uneasy about what had happened; not really knowing what he had done.

Jenny hit the door again with the palm of her hand, wiping her eyes quickly afterwards.

_‘I was just curious.’_

“You were hurting me,” Matt replied. “I had to do something. You didn’t expect me to just let you…”

“It wasn’t real,” Jenny argued.

“It was to me.”

The door opened behind her as the guard returned.

“Everything alright?” he asked her.

Jenny shot Matt one last contemptuous look.

_‘I was going to get you out of here. I was going to help you escape. But now…’_

“I’m ready to go,” Jenny said with an air of indifference. “He’s just what I thought he was; nothing special.”


	19. Reunion

“I can’t believe it,” Claire said for the third time since they’d left the room.

“I know,” Niki echoed with a disapproving shake of her head.

“I mean,” Claire said, stopping cold in the middle of the walkway. “He just doesn’t remember? None of it? Not anything?”

“He seemed to know some…”

“This isn’t right. There’s something wrong here,” Claire said, continuing on towards the kitchens. “They’ve… they’ve done something to him… someone did…”

Niki nodded and kept her opinions to herself. 

She understood Claire’s frustration, but it was entirely plausible that Peter really couldn’t remember anything without there being any outside interference. Either that or that he didn’t want to.

“Let’s just find Micah…” Niki began as they entered the dining area, but stopped abruptly; a grin broke out across her face. “D.L.!”

Claire watched as Niki ran across the room and into her husband’s arms. She should be happy for her, for her and Micah, but it wasn’t an easy thing to do.

It only served as a reminder of everything she’d lost.

Still, it got a little easier when Hiro and Ando rushed over, excited to see her as well. Hiro in particular pulled her into a tight hug.

“Claire, I’m so sorry,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s all my fault.”

“No it’s not,” she returned, squeezing him tighter. “It’s not. If anything…”

“Stop it,” Ando gently admonished the two of them as they broke apart. Moving in and giving Claire a briefer, but still as warm, hug. “It’s no one’s fault. Matt was only doing…”

But he couldn’t seem to finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. They all knew that Matt had only done what he’d thought he had to do. It was supposed to be reassuring, but it wasn’t. It felt like a waste.

Still, Claire was relieved. 

No words were going to talk her out of feeling responsible, but it was good to hear that no one else felt that way. It was also a relief to know that she didn’t have to explain it all again, Jacobs and Micah had done it for her.

Claire didn’t want to think about it any more.

“Hey, sweetie,” D.L. said, the last to make his way to her, having just gotten done being welcomed back by his family. Hugging her as he did his own child; kissing the top of her head. “You okay?”

Claire nodded tightly and there was a heavy pause. 

“Did they tell you everything?” Claire asked, looking to Micah and Jacobs.

“Yeah,” D.L. answered, “but Claire, are you sure? Are you really…”

“Dad,” Micah interrupted, “I told you. I saw him too. It’s really Peter.”

“Did he remember what happened?” Hiro asked. “After you talked to him, did it help any?”

“No,” Claire said sadly. “He thinks he’s some guy named Jonah. And he’s not. I can’t see how he could forget. But, he doesn’t remember the paintings, or the dreams, or how any of… What?”

They were all staring as if in shock, but not at her.

D.L. motioned with his eyes and Claire knew. She just knew he was behind her. That Peter, or Jonah – whoever he was, was standing right behind her and had had heard most of her angry tirade.

Claire put on her best fake smile and turned around to meet him.

“Sorry if I’m interrupting,” he said, giving her a smile in return.

“You’re not interrupting,” she lied. “We were just catching up. All of us. Let me, um… this is everyone, but you already know… No, you don’t know.”

“I’m D.L.,” the man said, stepping forward and taking the pressure off of Claire. “Hiro, Ando and I just arrived about an hour ago.”

“Of course you all know Peter,” Claire continued lamely.

“Actually,” he interrupted. “I know you all know me as Peter but I’d prefer if you called me Jonah. It’s what I’m… that’s who I am.”

“Okay,” D.L. agreed. “Jonah it is.”

No one knew what else to say. Claire, in particular, looked lost. Hurt even.

“I actually wanted to talk to you,” Peter said, turning to her. “Alone, if that’s alright? I have some questions and…”

Claire looked around uncertainly.

“If you’d rather we stayed here,” he continued, “that’s fine. I just thought it might be easier to talk without so many people around. You seem to know the most about me and…”

He didn’t seem to know how to finish. In fact, Peter looked almost as lost as Claire did.

“Go,” Niki silently mouthed to Claire as soon as she’d caught her attention.

“Okay,” Claire said quickly, that tiny bit of encouragement all she needed. “Let’s… okay. We can talk alone. Wherever.”

Peter cast one serious look at D.L., seeking permission.

D.L. gave him a slight nod in return and it really hit him.

Hard. 

Matt was gone. Niki might not have liked it, but Matt and D.L. had been the ones that had led. They’d made most of the decisions and nearly all of the plans. And now, now everyone was going to look to D.L. for those things. Things he wasn’t sure he could do alone; he wasn’t sure he wanted that responsibility in its entirety.

Claire gave them one last nod and smile as Peter motioned her out and away from them all.

“What’s he like?” D.L. asked Jacobs as soon as they’d left.

“Jonah? He’s a good guy. Quiet. Mostly keeps to himself.”

D.L. didn’t look entirely convinced.

“You don’t have to worry about her,” Jacobs continued. “She’ll be fine with him. Besides, that girl is tougher than she looks.”

****

They’d walked without speaking and seemingly without direction.

Claire didn’t know what to say or how to begin. If he had questions, why wasn’t he asking them?

“Did they assign you rooms yet?” he asked.

“Jacobs took care of it for us. Thanks.”

Peter nodded and continued walking.

“Where are we going?” Claire finally had to ask. 

It was a big place and she was more than a little afraid of getting lost. The main meeting rooms that the colony used were all inside of Grand Central Station, but their sleeping quarters were all located in the adjacent Grand Hyatt Hotel.

But all of that was inside. He was heading out.

“Here,” he said, stopping near the old train tracks. “I like to come out here. Mostly because it’s so cold no one else bothers.”

“Is it safe?” she asked cautiously as he leaned against the railing.

He gave her a quick smile and a nod.

“So,” she started, “what did you want to know? What did you want to ask me?”

“Well,” he practically sighed, “a lot. I want to know a lot. But first I want to know exactly how we know one another. Are we related or…”

“No,” Claire cut in quickly. “No, we’re not. We’re definitely not related. Actually, um, we’re kind of strangers.”

“Really?”

“Sort of,” Claire admitted. “We’d only met a month before everything happened. You saved my life.”

“Like a hero or something?” Peter said, sort of smiling as he spoke.

“Exactly like a hero,” Claire returned, smiling now too.

Peter seemed to be letting that sink in as they lapsed into a comfortable silence.

“I want to remember you,” he finally said, his voice just above a whisper. “I want to remember everything. It just seems like the harder I try the more it slips away.”

“I wish I could do something.”

“You’re doing plenty,” he said, turning to her. “Really. There’s something… something about you that’s familiar. There’s something…”

Peter moved to touch her face but quickly stopped himself.

“What can you tell me about my brother?” he asked instead.

“Nathan?” Claire said, sorry for the abrupt change. “Well, you know he’s leading the Order. Before all this happened he was running for Congress.”

“He wasn’t in town that day?”

“No,” Claire answered. “He and his wife were at the capitol.”

“What about his boys?”

Claire looked momentarily surprised. Peter didn’t even seem aware that he’d just recalled something new. That Claire had never mentioned his nephews.

“They were here,” Claire provided.

“Did they…” he hesitated. “Did they make it?”

Claire could only shake her head.

“Matt and I,” she continued but not without a struggle, “we looked. When we were able to, we looked for other survivors. For anyone. But by then, there was no one left. We checked everywhere we could think of. Your apartment, Isaac’s loft, your mother’s home, Nathan’s… All we ever found were empty rooms or…”

Claire stopped as the tears began to run down her face and turned away from him.

He didn’t hesitate.

Peter put his arms around her and waited it out. Waited until she’d gotten through the worst of it; held her until the tears had nearly stopped.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “This isn’t… You’re not here to watch me cry. We’re supposed to be talking about you and here I am…”

“Its fine,” he said, his hands still resting just above her elbows. “I want to know about you too.”

****

“You really think they’re telling the truth?”

“As I said before,” Albert said with a sigh, “they think they are.”

“Is that really good enough?” David continued to question. “After everything that has happened?”

“Samuel’s death was an accident,” Beatrice said firmly.

“That’s something I can’t believe,” David fired back. “You know my feelings.”

“Yes,” Albert said with a nod. “We do. And all I can do is assure you that I see no deception in them. Deception, lies, fraud. Evil; it all lies in the heart of man. If I saw evil among us, I’d be the first to cry out.”

“I still think that there is someone here working for the Order. Samuel’s death just confirmed it for me. He’s the third person in so many months to go missing.”

“Yes,” Beatrice added. “He did go missing, after going north. North where Sylar was last…”

“Sylar is a myth; an urban legend. He doesn’t exist. The Order only wants us…”

“What about their account of that day?” Beatrice asked. “They claim Sylar is real. To have seen him. That he caused…”

“They claim,” David mocked. “Exactly, who are they to claim anything? We don’t know them. And one man couldn’t have done all this. It just isn’t…”

“It wasn’t Sylar alone,” Albert added. “They say Jonah was there too.”

“How very convenient that their only witness can’t remember it happening.”

“David,” Beatrice said in as calm a voice as she could manage, “I understand your fears, but I believe the only reason they are here is the same reason we all are here. There’s no where else for people like us to go to anymore. They didn’t know Jonah was here when they arrived, and Jacobs would never bring back anyone he wasn’t completely certain about.”

David nodded, reluctantly ceding her the point.

“Besides,” she continued, “if they can help Jonah remember who he is they’ll have earned my gratitude. They ought to have earned it from us all.”


	20. Lapse

The door opened to their cell without warning as the guards brought Matt back to them.

They didn’t say anything, hadn’t even had him handcuffed this time, just pushed him inside and were gone again.

Matt hadn’t moved. He just stood there, pale and seemingly lifeless.

“Matt?” Audrey said hesitantly.

That seemed to do it.

Matt rushed to the sink, sick and gagging unexplainably.

Audrey and Mohinder looked at one another, frightened.

“What happened?” Audrey asked, hurrying to his side. “What did they do?”

Matt didn’t answer her. He just turned on the water and began to methodically wash; rinsing out his mouth and rubbing his eyes once or twice before continuously splashing water onto his face.

“Was it that woman?” Mohinder asked.

Matt briefly choked again before shaking his head and continuing on as before.

“Matt?” Audrey said, extremely worried now. “Talk to us. Please, you’re…”

“Give me a minute,” he said, gripping the sink tightly as he held his head down.

Both Audrey and Mohinder nodded and took a few steps back; not only giving him time, but space as well.

Matt stood at the sink a few minutes more before rinsing his face one last time and wiping it dry with his sleeve.

“Sorry,” he said to them both as he turned around again. “I just…”

“Its fine,” Mohinder said quickly, still concerned.

Some of the color had returned to Matt’s face but his hands had begun to shake slightly.

“What happened?” Audrey asked once more, taking his hands in hers as he sat beside her.

“That woman,” Matt said plainly, as if it were an explanation.

“Did she try and get more information out of you?” Mohinder asked tentatively.

“No,” Matt said, shaking his head. “She wanted me to help her. I don’t know; she wanted to make some kind of deal. I…”

Matt shut his eyes tightly and continued to shake his head.

“She’s not far along,” Matt continued after he’d recovered some. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing yet, not really. She thought since I can read minds and she can enter them that I would be able to tell her how to control her power.”

Mohinder nodded along eagerly. 

He’d been working on a similar theory. His belief was that no two people possessed the same power, but that each power could be grouped into a sort of subset. Each subset could be defined by how a power was used or worked. Matt, being a telepath, would belong to the same subset as a telekinetic, like Sylar, and a mentalist, like this woman seemed to be.

Theoretically, people within the same subset working together would be stronger. 

But, it could also work in reverse. That people with similar powers could actually cancel one another out.

Mohinder could neither prove nor disprove it since he knew so few gifted people himself. And of those he did know, none of their powers seemed to be connected in any way.

It was part of his overall research, his father’s research that he had been continuing.

“Jenny,” Matt said, “she’s strong. I don’t think she realized how strong she is until now. Before she was just accessing images and emotions off of people to use, now she can get at their fears.”

“How can you be sure?” Mohinder asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Matt quickly dismissed.

The familiar rapping at the door was back. No one jumped this time. The three of them just looked up in contempt at the man in the window and made their way towards the far wall.

“Alright,” the man said, coming inside with three other men and one burly looking woman, “let’s get things straight. We’re taking the three of you down into general population for a quick meal and showers. You will be handcuffed the majority of this time. I don’t want any funny business. There’s no way out of here and trying is a waste of your time and mine. You play nice with me and I’ll play nice with you. Understood?”

No one answered but he took their silence as acceptance.

“Hanson,” he hollered. “You’re going with Deputy Myers.”

Audrey looked skeptically at the woman and then back to the man obviously in charge of this outfit.

“Now,” he yelled, motioning her over.

Audrey gave Matt one last look before walking over to her appointed guard. The woman was about as gentle as she appeared, taking a rough hold on her wrists as she tightened Audrey’s handcuffs with more force than was necessary.

“Easy,” Matt muttered under his breath, not liking this at all.

“Shut up, Parkman,” the head guard barked.

Audrey looked over her shoulder at him and he caught clear as day, _‘I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’_

Matt managed a small smile in return.

He and Mohinder watched as the woman grabbed Audrey by the arm and walked her from the room. Before she’d gotten out the door she gave him one last look, one last thought.

_‘I love you.’_

Matt was too struck to even return the sentiment. He could only look down at his feet and try to hold his composure.

“Suresh,” the guard called out sharply. “You’re with Deputy Smith.”

Matt watched as Mohinder was handcuffed and escorted just outside the room. Presumably he and Mohinder would be going to the same location.

“You’re with me, Parkman.”

“Don’t I get to know your name?” Matt asked as he walked over to the head guard, hands outstretched and ready for his handcuffs.

“Don’t get cute with me.”

_‘I’ll be glad when I’m done with this one. He gives me the creeps.’_

Matt started to smile, happy to have unnerved him, but stopped when he heard the man continue.

_‘Just one more week.’_

Matt stared at the man, trying to confirm it in his face. The guard looked back at him with a familiar look of surprise.

_‘Did he just hear that?’_

“Yeah, I did,” Matt answered.

The guard looked at him, looked at him hard and gave a slight nod.

_‘Not from me you didn’t.’_

And Matt knew; he knew that was an order. That if Matt didn’t want to get dragged into a cell every day and beaten for the next week, his last week, he was never to tell who he’d been tipped off by. That apparently Matt’s execution day wasn’t supposed to be known to him just yet.

Nathan probably wanted to deliver the news in person.

****

There was a small knock on the solid wood door followed by a lengthy pause.

“Come in.”

Jenny walked into the room, head held high and trying to look unafraid. Truthfully, she was petrified. Nathan Petrelli never called people to his office for good news.

“So,” Nathan said from behind his desk, “you got what you wanted. Saw Parkman. How’s he doing?”

“As good as he can be,” Jenny said as smoothly as could manage.

“Have a seat,” Nathan said, indicating the nearest chair.

Jenny smiled tightly at him and did as she’d been told. This wasn’t a man to be argued with or denied.

“So tell me, what did you think of him? Honestly. Was he what you’d expected?”

“He’s smart,” Jenny admitted. “Capable. But you’d never get him to help you.”

“Too much damn integrity.”

Jenny nodded in agreement.

“And?” he pressed.

“And,” Jenny continued, “I think you should have put a bullet in his brain back in that interrogation room.”

Nathan smiled at her as she shifted uneasily on the spot.

“Why is that? Because he turned you down? Didn’t want to play your games?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Really?” Nathan asked. “You mean you weren’t planning to help him escape, provided he helped you first? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“No,” Jenny said shaking her head nervously.

“Come on now, Jenny. We both know my promises aren’t worth anything.”

Jenny knew then she’d been caught. That she’d been foolish. She’d made a horrible mistake; even if Parkman hadn’t wanted to help her, she should have made a run for it that very moment.

“What are you going to do with me?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“Sir?”

“Nothing,” he repeated. “You’re a valuable part of this administration, Jenny. A very valuable part. Especially as of late. I can’t afford to lose you.”

Jenny looked at him in disbelief.

“But I need people I can trust,” Nathan continued, getting up from his chair and moving around the desk towards her. “People who I know will be loyal to me.”

“It was a lapse in judgment,” Jenny said immediately. “I won’t… it will never happen…”

“I know that,” Nathan assured her. “I do. And to prove it, I’m giving you a promotion.”

Jenny didn’t know what to say. She wanted to believe him but was afraid to.

“I want you to head up my interviews from now on. You’ll be in charge. How’s that sound?”

“Exciting. Very exciting, sir.”

“Good,” Nathan finished. “I thought you’d feel that way. My secretary has a few papers for you to sign and then it will be official.”

“Thank you,” Jenny said, getting to her feet and moving towards the door.

“One more thing,” Nathan said just as her hand touched the door knob.

Jenny looked back with a mixture of curiosity and horror.

“About Suresh and Hanson,” he said. “Their sentences? Do you still want them commuted?”

She paused, but only briefly.

It was a test. She knew it was a test.

“No,” she said shortly. “Kill them both.”

Nathan nodded and gave her a cunning smile.

“Excellent.”


	21. Deception

Claire woke up the next morning refreshed. She’d slept longer than normal, a good five hours, but she’d obviously needed that extra time.

The last few days had been an emotional rollercoaster.

She was one of the first in the kitchens and tried to make herself useful by setting up tables with a few others, Hiro among them.

Hiro was an early riser like herself.

After they’d both eaten a light breakfast they sat and talked for some time, Hiro very interested in what Peter did and did not remember; if talking with her had been helpful or not.

“I’m not sure,” Claire answered. “I think it was. I hope.”

“He may just need some time,” Hiro suggested.

“I know you’re right,” Claire said. “It’s just hard. He hasn’t changed, not at all. I mean, even without knowing he’s Peter he’s still him. Do you know what I mean?”

Hiro smiled and gave her a nod.

“Good morning,” Jacobs said, joining them at their table. “How did you sleep?”

“Very well,” Hiro answered. “You’ve all done an extraordinary job here. It must have taken a lot of work.”

“Some things were easier than others,” Jacobs returned. “But the lights are a new addition. Last time I was here the lights would hardly stay on at all. I don’t know who fixed that but I’ve been meaning to thank them.”

Claire smiled at him and Hiro even laughed.

“I’ve wanted a word with you,” Jacobs said, turning to her with a bit more serious expression. “About your friends. The ones still in D.C.”

“How did you know about them?” Claire asked. “We never…”

“We were talking about Audrey and Mohinder yesterday,” Hiro supplied. “Before you and Niki arrived. D.L. would like to help them if we can, he would like to bring them up as planned.”

“If they got out then they’ll head to Trenton,” Claire said. “That was the plan. But Matt thought that they might not be coming. That they’d probably been taken.”

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you,” Jacobs said. “Who knew these people best?”

Claire and Hiro looked at one another as if mentally conferring.

“Well actually,” Claire said, “Peter, um Jonah, knew Mohinder best and Matt…”

Claire trailed off, shrugging and giving the older man a weak smile.

“Oh,” he said, sounding dejected.

“But I guess out of the rest of us,” Claire went on, “I knew Audrey best. We didn’t get to meet with either of them very often, but I guess it would be me.”

“It’s worth a try,” Jacobs said with a nod.

“I’m sorry, what’s worth a try?” Claire asked.

“Beatrice.”

Fifteen minutes later Claire found herself alone with Beatrice in a rather small and dark room that smelled strongly of pine. It had probably once been a storage room as it was lined with shelves. Now it was stocked with candles and two easy chairs that faced each other in the very center of the space.

“I’m not sure I understand exactly what it is you do,” Claire admitted.

“It’s not easy to explain,” Beatrice said in a friendly tone. “I’m not entirely sure myself. I guess it could be called astral projection.”

“So your soul leaves your body?”

“In a way,” Beatrice said.

Beatrice motioned for Claire to sit down before sitting in the chair opposite.

“I’ve found that if I concentrate hard enough on a person I can travel to them,” Beatrice continued. “I can see what is happening to them.”

“Like seeing the future?”

“No,” Beatrice said with a shake of her head, “only the present. I can only see what is happening at that moment.”

“So you can see where our friends are? Right now?” Claire asked, growing excited.

“Maybe,” Beatrice answered. “The problem is that it only works well on people I have actually met, whom I actually know. But sometimes I am able to work with someone else to reach out to others.”

“What’s it like?” Claire asked, profoundly curious.

“It’s very dreamlike,” she returned.

“Can you actually talk with them?”

Beatrice shook her head.

“No,” she answered. “Not yet at least. Wouldn’t that be something?”

Claire smiled in agreement.

“So what do you need me to do?” Claire asked. “How do I help?”

“First I need you to shut your eyes,” Beatrice instructed. “Shut your eyes and clear your mind.”

Claire took a deep breath and did as she’d been told.

“Now,” Beatrice said, shutting her eyes as well. “Your friend’s name is?”

“Audrey.”

“I need you to think about her,” Beatrice continued. “Only think about her. Picture her in your head. Any memories you may have of her. That is the only thought you should have right now. Just Audrey.”

Claire nodded slightly and tried to do as she’d been told, but it wasn’t easy. Thinking about Audrey automatically led her to Matt. About how Audrey, if Audrey was even still alive herself, how she probably didn’t know yet that he was not. How she dreaded telling her the news. How important they were to one another. How awful, how very awful it was.

Claire tried to just think of her, but couldn’t do it.

Still, she wouldn’t give up. Beatrice hadn’t said anything to her yet, hadn’t told her to stop, so Claire kept it up. She tried picturing Audrey in her head. Tried to see her there, her attitude, her demeanor but it all ended in failure. She just couldn’t keep focused. Not on Audrey alone.

“I’m sorry,” Claire said, opening her eyes.

Beatrice’s eyes snapped open at once; she gazed at the other woman in surprise.

“I couldn’t do it,” Claire went on, shaking her head sadly. “It’s harder than I thought. Audrey, this woman, she was…”

She didn’t know how to explain it. Wasn’t sure she wanted to. It all felt very suddenly very private and personal. Like telling Beatrice about Matt and Audrey’s relationship was somehow like telling a stranger all your secrets.

“Are you okay?” Claire asked as she realized Beatrice hadn’t spoken, hadn’t responded at all.

“Fine,” Beatrice said after a pause.

“You didn’t… did you see her?”

Beatrice fixed her with one last look before shaking her head.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Like I said, sometimes it doesn’t work.”

****

“He lied to us.”

“I told you, I’d have seen…”

“And I’m telling you he lied. That girl, that woman he brought in is the one they’ve been looking for. She’s the one Nathan Petrelli is after. Jacobs knew that, he had to have known that.”

“There’s no deception…”

“Stop already. We both know that with Jacobs’ ability, the heat he emits, his aura is harder for you to read than anyone else’s. He could have easily…”

“Why though? Why would he lie?”

“Because he’s on to us. He’s been suspicious since Samuel’s death. They were close. He knows something more is going on.”

“So what do we do?”

“This could work to our advantage. We both know Petrelli has no use for her, that he must have made some deal with Primatech, just like we have. We could give her to them instead. It might buy us some more time.”

“They didn’t ask us for her. They asked us for Jonah.”

“Jonah’s worthless to them if he can’t access his powers.”

“That was your job.”

“It’s difficult. I can only do so much.”

“Maybe if he gets his memories back…”

“If he gets his memories back the first thing he’ll do is go back to his brother. We both know that. You know what I’ve seen from him.”

“And what did you see from her?”

“That man, the telepath. The one she thinks is dead. He was with Petrelli.”

“Talking? About what?”

“I don’t know; she broke my concentration before I could hear anything significant.”

“Did you tell her?” Albert asked, concerned that they’d been found out.

“Of course not,” Beatrice answered. “He’ll be dead soon enough if what I did hear was correct. He’s not important. The only important thing is that we keep Jonah from remembering who he really is and that we keep Claire here. At all costs. Primatech may not have asked us for her, but they certainly won’t say no if we offer her up.”

“What about Jacobs? If he really is on to us then…”

“Then it will be a two for one special.”

****

Micah had just finished setting up all his equipment. He had several laptops he never went anywhere without. He had routers and cell phones, modems and any and every type of hardware equipment he could get his hands on.

Typically when they stopped it was the first thing he did. He set up. But, given everything that had been going on, there hadn’t been much opportunity for that until now.

Plugging everything in, completely unconcerned if the outlets and phone jacks actually worked, Micah was ready.

No matter the situation, Micah could always make it work.

It took a few minutes, a few minutes of concentration and a bit of energy, but the laptop was soon alive with information.

Micah knew that Claire, with Beatrice’s help, hadn’t been able to find out what had happened to either Audrey or Mohinder; now it was his turn.

The Order had limited internet capabilities but a fairly solid intranet; a good working internal network that took Micah all of five seconds to hack.

“Got anything yet?” D.L. asked, unable to keep up with the rapidly scrolling pages and shifting information that his son could comprehend with ease.

“This can’t be right.”

“What is it?”

Micah frowned at the screen and rehashed the information he’d retrieved.

“This… maybe it’s old.”

D.L. didn’t question him again; he knew his son was busy. That Micah was concentrating and didn’t need the added distraction.

“Get Claire,” Micah said as he accessed three individual records; new records.

D.L. got up and hurried to the next room where Claire was sitting with Niki.

“Micah needs you,” D.L. said from the doorway, eager to get back himself and see what he’d found out.

Claire and Niki both joined them, standing behind Micah as he continued his work.

“Look at this,” Micah said, showing them the screen. “That can’t be right, can it? Claire, you said… you…”

“No,” Claire said shaking her head at the image. “That’s… why would they…”

“I found Audrey and Mohinder too,” Micah went on. “They were both picked up three days ago, the day we left Baltimore. But Matt’s says…”

“He’s dead,” Claire said in a near frantic voice. “That can’t be right. He was dead when I left him. I wouldn’t have left him if… I wouldn’t have. No. I… I…”

Claire covered her mouth and turned away from the screen in complete disbelief. Niki wrapped an arm around her protectively and tried to calm her as much as she could but it wasn’t easy.

“Oh my God,” Claire said in complete shock. “He must think I just left him to die. And I did. I did. I just left, but I swear I didn’t know. I really didn’t.”

“Claire, calm down,” Niki urged. “I’m sure he doesn’t think that. No one thinks that. It’s okay. The important thing is he is alive, right?”

“Right,” Claire repeated, but she didn’t sound convinced. Nothing short of seeing him in person would truly convince her. “That’s right.”

Niki nodded at her, looking her in the eyes to ensure she really was alright.

“Good,” Niki said as Claire continued to nod.

“So what are we going to do?” Claire asked, stiffening her resolve. “When do we go? We have to bring them back. That was always the plan, right?”

“Right,” D.L. agreed. “We just need to think this through and…”

“Dad,” Micah interrupted. “Whatever we do, we’d better hurry.”

“Why’s that?”

“It says here that they’re going to be executed at sunset on Friday.”

“That’s in five days,” Niki said in a hushed voice. “Is that enough time?”

“It will have to be,” D.L. answered.


	22. Pushed

“Parkman. Sorry if I kept you waiting.”

Matt looked up at Nathan and tried to restrain himself from rolling his eyes, just tried to keep himself from passing out again. 

He’d been woken up that morning by two men dragging him out of bed and so far, that had been the best part of his day. 

Matt had slept heavier than normal and hadn’t heard them enter the cell; no one had. He’d had no intention of putting up a fight; Matt knew there was no point in it. And the guards, now relatively sure that Matt couldn’t rip their arms off with any type of abnormal strength or burn holes in them with his eyes, certain now he was almost human, weren’t being as cautious as they’d once been.

It was their mistake, their mistake to discount Audrey.

Audrey had been an FBI agent, still extremely well trained in self defense and already on edge. By sneaking up on him they’d inadvertently snuck up on her as well and her instincts had naturally kicked in.

Before Matt even knew what was happening, almost as soon as he’d hit the floor, one of the guards was already bleeding profusely from his nose and shouting angrily at the two others to grab her. That done, the man seemed to forget all about Matt still on the floor and Mohinder still in his bed, making a beeline for Audrey instead.

“You stupid bitch,” he said as he got right in her face, slapping her hard. “I think she broke my nose.”

And for a split second there was absolute silence.

Then Matt snapped.

He jumped to his feet, ran straight for the guard and tackled him against the wall with as much force as he could manage. Matt didn’t need any type of super powers for that being a just over six feet tall and having at least thirty pounds on the other man; that was the only advantage he needed.

Mohinder was only a split second behind him, not willing to stand by. One of the two guards holding back Audrey had tried to pull Matt off the guard with the broken nose who had started this altercation. Mohinder was able to get his arm around his neck and wrench him to the ground, holding him in place more or less.

Audrey was also now fighting back harder than before. She was out matched physically by the man who held her arms behind her, but she still had a few tricks to try. Starting first by scrapping her heel down the man’s shin and stomping as hard as she could on his toes. It was a rudimentary self defense tactic that paid off as the man momentarily let go of her either out of shock or annoyance. As he started to double over Audrey elbowed him sharply in the face, breaking her second nose of the morning.

“Matt,” Mohinder yelled as loud as he dared. “Matt!”

But by then it was too late.

Four more men had rushed into the room having heard the commotion from down the hall.

Mohinder got up and moved away quickly but still got punched in the stomach for his trouble before he was pushed face first into the wall, handcuffed and sat down in the corner. 

Audrey was next. Seeing they were outnumbered, she also surrendered easily but was roughed up much the same as Mohinder had been before ending up beside him on the ground.

Matt was last and showed no sign of stopping. In fact, he showed no signs that he’d even realized that there were other men now in the room with them. He’d thrown off the first two men that had tried to pull him off the guard whom he was still punching until finally they started to hit him with their clubs.

He fought hard, but it wasn’t enough. Matt was probably in the best shape he’d been in for years, owed largely to the fact that Niki had pretty much demanded that everyone work out regularly and practice her brand of self defense, but he was hardly a match against four men.

Still, he didn’t show any sign of backing down until Audrey started to scream at him both out loud and in her head to stop.

It brought him back round, back to himself. Matt reluctantly put his hands up and complied when they told him to put up his hands and get on his knees.

Two more men had entered the room now, both armed and Audrey’s eyes had gone wide with fear, certain they were going to kill him right then and there.

Instead one man moved in hesitantly and handcuffed Matt. Once that was done another pulled him to his feet and pushed him towards the door.

Audrey and Mohinder were left to wonder what was happening, still handcuffed and locked away in the cell, as Matt was taken away from them again.

Matt had walked a good twenty feet down the hallway before he was shoved into the nearest wall and two or three men began to hit and kick. At some point he gratefully lost consciousness and when he woke up he was back in the interrogation room, slumped up against the wall.

That’s when Nathan arrived.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, leaning over condescendingly to meet him eye-to-eye. “You don’t look well.”

Matt blinked heavily a few times.

“Still get those headaches?” Nathan continued. “If I recall, they used to be pretty bad. Are they still?”

Matt started to say something in return but ended up coughing violently instead.

Nathan took a small step back to avoid getting blood on his shoes but otherwise acted as if they were having a perfectly normal conversation.

“You know,” he went on, “you really should be more careful. As I understand it you took a nasty spill down the stairs. I really had wanted to have a little talk with you, but I guess I can be content with you listening.”

“I already know,” Matt managed to spit out at him.

Nathan’s brow lifted in surprise.

“Well, that saves me the trouble. Who told you?”

Matt shook his head at him to signal that he wasn’t going to say.

“Doesn’t matter,” Nathan returned. “Nothing much will after Friday, right?”

He didn’t answer. Matt’s only response was to lean his head back against the wall and shut his eyes tight.

“Why are you doing this?” Matt finally said after a lengthy pause.

“You know why,” Nathan shot back, for the first time sounding angry.

“No,” Matt said, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t know. I can’t… Is this what he’d want? Is it? What would Peter say about this?”

Nathan froze and glared down at the other man.

“Go ahead and hit me,” Matt taunted, knowing what the other man wanted to do. “Kill me. It’s not going to bring him back. It’s not going to change anything.”

“Shut up.”

“Really, what’s it going to accomplish? Killing me? Right now you’d be doing me a favor.”

He didn’t answer. Instead Nathan began to pace.

“Why wait, Nathan?” Matt persisted. “Why not just get it over with? I know you want to. It’s not like you have anyone to answer to anymore, do you? Let’s just end this now. You win. I can’t hurt you, I can’t stop you. Do it already.”

Nathan clenched his jaw and stood perfectly still as if suddenly rooted to the spot. After a moment, he’d recovered.

“I know what you’re doing, Parkman. I know what you’re trying to do. The waiting, it’s brutal isn’t it? Not knowing. You’re not used to that, are you? You’re used to having that advantage and now it’s gone.”

It was Matt’s turn to glare at him in silence.

“No,” Nathan said shaking his head. “I’m not falling for it. I can wait until Friday. I’ve waited this long, haven’t I? You can wait too. By yourself. No more shared cell with your friends. We’ll see how you like that. Next time you see them will be at the gallows. First Suresh and then Hanson. You can go last. You can watch.”

With great effort Matt fought down any response he might have. He didn’t want to give Nathan the satisfaction.

“Should be interesting for you,” Nathan said as he headed for the door. “I’ll make sure you’re close enough to hear her last thoughts. Who knows, you might find some comfort in that, however brief.”

“He’d be ashamed of you,” Matt had to say. “You know it too.”

Nathan turned back towards him briefly.

“We’ll never know what he’d be, will we?”

“He was a better man than you.”

Nathan swallowed hard, just barely containing his rage.

“Yes, that’s true. Peter was a saint.”

He didn’t stay in the room any longer. He couldn’t. Parkman was getting under his skin; he knew which buttons to push and it was infuriating. 

A moment longer might be just enough to break Nathan’s resolve causing him to end it then and there, which was exactly what he had wanted. 

But Nathan wanted him to suffer. 

A quick death wasn’t good enough.

Nathan stalked down the hall and off towards his office. A few minutes later he breezed past his secretary, ignoring the fact that she’d started to say something, and went straight inside.

“I’ve been here half an hour,” Heidi said as soon as the door was shut. “Where have you been?”

“Running a country,” Nathan remarked as he took his usual seat behind his desk.

“You’re really going to do it, aren’t you? Kill them? All of them?”

Her voice was cold, but Nathan ignored that the same way he ignored most things these days.

“They’re a menace,” he said, head bent over the paperwork he pulled towards him as she’d begun to speak.

“They were your friends.”

Nathan didn’t answer her, just continued to pour through the pages he’d amassed.

“And what about the girl? When you find her, are you really just going to…”

“I have no choice,” Nathan erupted.

“Yes you do,” Heidi fired back. “You’re the only one left who does have a choice.”

“The only reason the Republic hasn’t waltzed up here and taken over is because I continue to work with them. I’ve been trying to give them what they want. If the Republic wants Claire Bennet then I’m going to deliver her to them.”

“Don’t you mean if Primatech wants her?”

“Primatech. The Republic. It’s all the same now,” Nathan answered, calmer now.

“Do you even care what they’ll do to her?” Heidi continued to ask.

“No.”

“What happened to you?” 

“Not now Heidi.”

“Then when? When are we going to talk? Really talk Nathan.”

“This does not concern you.”

“Yes it does,” she argued. “They’re using you. They’re using you to get what they want.”

“We’ve made a deal,” he said through gritted teeth. “I don’t expect you to understand…”

“I’m not stupid, Nathan.”

“Then stop acting like you are. You know as well as I do that Primatech has technology that we need. If we are ever going to stop these abnormalities, control them, we need Primatech’s help. Handing over Claire Bennet is the only way they are going to supply us with what we need.”

“And what’s next?” Heidi asked. “What will they want next? Who? How many? Don’t kid yourself, they haven’t waltzed up here and taken over because they don’t want to. It’s not out of some allegiance they have towards you. You’re one of them, remember? One of the abnormalities.”

Nathan slammed his hands down on the desk before rising to his feet.

“Sir,” a voice said following a light knock on the door that was just sliding open.

“What is it Sullivan?” Nathan asked.

“Sorry for interrupting but I thought you’d want to know right away.”

“Then tell me right away.”

“Yes,” he said, shifting nervously and trying to ignore the hurt look on Mrs. Petrelli’s face. “We just heard from our Bravo team. In New York. They’ve found the colony.”

“And?”

“They have it under surveillance but so far haven’t…”

“Tell them I want Claire Bennet captured and brought back here in under twenty-four hours.”

“But…”

Nathan stopped the man with a single look.

“Yes, sir,” Sullivan said obediently, making a hasty exit.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Heidi said with unmasked bitterness.

Nathan sat back down behind his desk, once more pulling his papers to him.

“I do,” he said quietly, unable to look at her anymore.


	23. Plans

“When was this decided?”

“Earlier today,” Henry Jacobs said.

“And how do they know? How can they be certain that this information is real?”

“It’s real.”

David gave him a hard look before turning to Albert and Beatrice for support he knew he wouldn’t receive.

“No one has given approval…” he continued.

“I don’t need your approval,” Jacobs interrupted. “Neither do they for that matter.”

“You might want to reconsider that statement if you have plans for coming back.”

“The plan,” Jacobs said, now completely ignoring the other man, “is for four of us to leave tonight.”

“Which four?” Beatrice asked.

“The boy and his father, the time bender and myself.”

He waited for her to nod in acknowledgement before continuing.

“If everything goes well, we’ll be back by the end of the week.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Albert asked.

“Then we won’t.”

“Why you?” Beatrice asked. “You don’t know…”

“I know Matt,” he interrupted once more, his playful manner entirely gone. “I left that man in an alley thinking he was dead. I left him behind. If he dies now, it’s my fault.”

“And the rest of their group? The other three, what are their plans?”

“To stay here,” Jacobs answered. “They all want to stay here, but they don’t want their friends to die if they can help that. None of them want to do this, but it has to be done.”

Beatrice nodded slowly.

“Is there any way we can help?” she asked.

Jacobs shook his head.

“Good luck then,” she said. “We’ll look forward to your return.”

****

Niki shook her head as she watched her husband pack a small bag with clothes and a few other essential items.

“I know why you want to do this,” she said. “I really do, but…”

D.L. stopped and walked over to her; sat beside her and pulled her into his arms.

“It’s going to be alright. We’ll be back before you know it.”

Niki nodded her head mechanically, automatically, but it wasn’t really sinking in.

“He’d do this for me,” D.L. said resolutely.

“I know he would,” Niki echoed, still unable to look him in the eyes.

D.L. kissed her temple, hugging her close for a moment.

“Just promise me you’ll come back,” Niki said softly. “Promise me that you and Micah…”

“We’ll come back.”

Niki turned and met his gaze, wanting to believe what he said. Needing to believe it.

“I promise you,” he repeated before leaning in with a kiss.

****

“There’s been a slight change in plans.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

“I know,” Beatrice said into the satellite phone, her only connection to the men who ran Primatech, “but it’s unavoidable. I know we promised you Henry Jacobs but…”

“You still have Claire Bennet?”

“Yes.”

“Then send her along with anyone else you choose.”

“And in return?”

“We’ll be sure to drop another shipment off for you. The usual items, food and clothes.”

“Just the usual?” Beatrice questioned. “I was under the impression you really needed…”

“Are you unhappy with our arrangement?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Not at all, but I thought…”

“Good,” the man said, ignoring the second part of her response entirely. “Then you might want to remember it. You still haven’t given us Peter Petrelli.”

“I told you, we’re working…”

“Work faster.”

****

After spending much of the previous night talking with Claire about who he really was, this Peter he didn’t remember, Jonah hadn’t been able to sleep. Instead he relieved one of the guards on night watch to pass the time, to hopefully take his mind off it all and give him something useful to do, but it hadn’t helped.

His thoughts kept returning to the dreams he’d been having and that face, that look he couldn’t place.

Was it Claire?

If everything she’d said was true, it probably was. He’d even thought he’d caught something of it earlier, in her smile and in her sadness.

So why couldn’t he remember?

Not knowing was painful. Not remembering, not being certain of anyone or anything. How had he become this way? If he did have powers, gifts like everyone else, why couldn’t he use them? Was it because of the amnesia?

Did something happen to change him?

Jonah traced the scar across his face and tried to remember.

He had a mother named Angela and they had told him he’d gotten that scar trying to protect her.

He had a brother named Nathan who ran the Order with an iron fist, locking away or eliminating the misfits from society.

There was a woman named Claire who smiled sweetly at him, who seemed to care so much and something else. Something more. Something he had to do?

It was intangible.

He was close, he was so close to knowing but something wasn’t connecting. Somehow he just couldn’t make it come together in his head.

****

They had all gathered in at the main entrance, ready to go.

“We’ll bring him back,” D.L. assured her. “We will.”

“I should be going with you,” she said shortly, refusing to meet his gaze. “After everything… No one owes him more than I do.”

“Yeah, well, nothing would piss him off more then me letting you come along,” D.L. returned and Claire couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her. “Okay?”

Claire nodded at him, offering up a small smile.

“Alright,” D.L. said, smiling back. “We ready?”

Goodbyes were said and promises made as Claire, Ando and Niki watched the others set off.

“I won’t sleep a wink until they’re back,” Niki said with a sigh as she turned and made her way back into the main part of the colony’s epicenter.

“Do you think they’ll do it?” Claire asked. “Really do it?”

“If anyone can it’s them,” Ando answered.

“I still wish I could have gone,” Claire returned.

“Me, too,” Niki seconded.

Ando nodded, wanting to be a part of it as well.

“What now?” Niki asked.

“I’m going to get some sleep,” Ando offered. “I’m scheduled for kitchen detail tomorrow morning. Early tomorrow morning.”

Both Claire and Niki looked at him, surprised.

“Already?” Claire asked. “I don’t think they’ve even got me on the roster.”

“Me either,” Niki seconded.

“Well, I imagine they have their reasons,” Ando said flatly.

“Is it because you don’t have any powers?” Claire asked angrily.

“Claire, I’m sure it’s…”

“Is it?” Niki asked, also angry.

“I don’t know,” Ando admitted.

“D.L. wasn’t scheduled,” Niki continued. “Was Hiro?”

“It’s really not a big deal,” Ando said, trying to gloss the whole thing over.

“No, it is,” Claire continued. “That’s not fair. If that’s how things are done around here I’m not sure…”

“How what’s done?” Peter asked, having just joined them.

“Do they only schedule people without powers for duties around here?” Niki asked, getting straight to the point.

“It’s really not that important,” Ando tried to interject, but without success.

“Yes it is,” Claire said firmly, before turning to Peter. “Well?”

“No,” he answered. “Well, yes and no.”

“Which is it?” Claire asked.

“It’s complicated. People that have gifts are expected to do other things; they’re used in other places. So yes, they are still scheduled but no, it’s not typically for things like kitchen detail or housekeeping.”

Claire shook her head, still not liking it. It seemed unfair. It seemed like something the Order would do.

“I know what it sounds like,” Peter said, “but it’s really not like that. I’m always doing perimeter duty, it’s just expected. I don’t mind…”

“It’s not a question of whether you mind it or not,” Claire said, growing upset. “It should be equal. We should all be equal.”

“But we’re not,” Peter said flatly.

Niki and Ando were now watching the exchange with equal parts curiosity and unease.

“I’m sorry if that upsets you,” he continued, “but it’s true. There are people here that can do extraordinary things. Doesn’t that entitle…”

“No,” Claire said decisively. “It doesn’t. We’re all…”

“We’re not all the same,” Peter interrupted. “What you do, what she does, that’s special. I can’t do that. No one else in the world can do that.”

Claire just stared at him, not believing what she was hearing.

“I know that in the Order things are different. That people like you are feared, I know how you’re thought of there, but here…”

“What is this place?” Claire asked, narrowing her eyes and shaking her head. “Who… I don’t want special treatment. I don’t want to be privileged. I want to be normal.”

“Why would you…”

Claire waved him off.

“Peter, we’ve… I know you don’t remember, but we’ve had this conversation before. We talked one night, all night about how these things we can do, they’re not gifts; they’re obligations. We’re not special because of them. We’re not different. We’re still the same people we were before. Now we just have more responsibility.”

“I don’t…”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” she said shaking her head and looking away. “Not now. Not… not after what they’ve told you, taught you… whatever this place has done.”

“Claire…”

“No,” she said shortly. “This isn’t right. I can’t… When D.L. brings back Matt, we’re leaving.”


	24. Power

“I just recieved a very surprising offer.”

“Really?” Nathan tried to ask with something like interest.

“For Claire Bennet.”

“From who?” he asked, his attention fully caught.

“Mr. Petrelli,” the voice on the other end of the line said condescendingly, “surely you don’t think you are the only person on my payroll.”

“No, but…”

“You were supposed to bring her to me.”

“And I will. My men are…”

“Your men haven’t been able to bring her in so far. It’s been three years.”

“Yes, but…”

“Mr. Petrelli, I don’t like surprises. And I don’t like failure.”

“I assure you that whoever has told you that they have Claire Bennet is lying. My men are bringing her in as we speak.”

“You have confirmation of this.”

“I do,” Nathan lied without hesitation.

“Good. We’ll be there in three days to pick her up.”

“Three days?”

“Yes,” the man said coolly. “On Friday.”

“Friday is not really a good time,” Nathan said. “We’ve got an…”

“Execution taking place? Yes, I know. Matthew Parkman. I’m surprised you haven’t tried to barter him…”

“No. Not him.”

“Have it your way,” the man replied. “We’ll see you Friday. You and Ms. Bennet.”

“Friday it is.”

****

He’d been gone a day.

The guards had left Audrey and Mohinder to sit in their cuffs for a few hours before finally returning and undoing them, but wouldn’t tell them a thing about Matt.

They’d had lunch and dinner and showers as was becoming usual, but still they hadn’t brought Matt back to them.

Audrey hadn’t been able to sleep that night. Instead, she’d paced. Up and down, and back and forth, all around the cell. Audrey paced and waited and paced some more.

Why hadn’t they brought him back?

“Audrey,” Mohinder said from where he sat on his cot watching her progress around the room.

That’s as far as he ever got.

Mohinder had tried at least a dozen times to talk to her, to talk her down, but as soon as he said her name she’d turn and glare at him and he wouldn’t know what else to say.

He could offer neither hope nor consolation.

Not knowing was killing them both.

Audrey heard movement in the hallway and as expected the head guard was back at the window, tapping and motioning for them to move to their spots by the back wall.

“Lunch time,” he said as soon as he entered the room.

Audrey couldn’t help but look disappointed.

They went through the routine, the same one they did for every meal, except this time the head guard took Audrey by the arm.

“I’ll walk her down the hall,” he said to Deputy Myers, the woman who normally took her.

Mohinder looked on uneasily as instead of heading towards the cafeteria the man walked with Audrey further into the complex, away from every one else.

“Why isn’t she coming with us?” he asked, unable to keep from at least saying something. “What’s going on?”

“Quiet, Suresh,” he guard holding onto him said, dragging him away.

“Where…” Audrey started to ask for herself, but he squeezed her arm so tightly the questioned died in her throat.

“Stand here,” he said loudly, too loudly, as he turned her away from him, facing a door.

Audrey felt her heart race, not sure what was happening and not liking the vulnerable position she was in.

She stood there, looking down at the door knob; just waiting for whatever was going to happen to be over with, for it to at least begin so it could be over with.

“What’s the hold up down there?” they both heard Deputy Myers call from the very end of the hallway near the main exit where she stood.

The guard cleared his throat loudly causing her to turn slightly towards him.

He looked her straight in the eyes before looking back at the door.

Audrey looked as well with renewed interest but not just at the door, at the security window.

Rising up on her toes she could just see inside; and there he was.

Matt was there. Alive. Still alive.

Audrey breathed a sigh of relief as she rocked back on her heels.

“Come on,” the guard said, leading her once more by the arm down the hallway and to the waiting Deputy Myers.

“What was that all about?” the woman asked as she took over possession of Audrey.

“Just get her down to the mess hall,” was all he said in return.

Audrey turned to give him one last look and a nod, a thank you, but he had already moved away.

It didn’t matter.

He was still alive. Matt was still alive.

****

Matt had vague recollections of being brought into the cell, of being dropped on the floor sometime after his little interview with Nathan, but he has no idea as to how long ago that actually may have happened.

He had lay on the floor most of the night until one or more of the guards finally moved him to the cot. Matt was just too weak to do it himself; still too weak to move much at all.

Most of his day had been spent going in and out of consciousness.

Matt was thankful for those moments of sleep, of blackness, at least those were pain free, but while he’s awake, while he’s awake he mostly just wished he was asleep again.

Later that afternoon he started to feel a little better, just well enough to move actually; not that he had any desire to do that.

That’s when the door opened.

“Are you sure you want to be in here alone? He was pretty violent…”

“I’m sure,” Matt heard a familiar voice say.

The guard must have been convinced because the next thing Matt knew the door was shutting and he knew it had shut with her on the inside.

“I’m not asleep,” Matt said before she had the chance to say what was on her mind. “And you’re wasting your time. I don’t know anything about the colony.”

“I’m not just here for that,” Jenny said curtly.

“Still curious?” Matt asked, not even bothering to turn over and face her.

Jenny didn’t answer. Instead, Matt was surprised when he felt her sit down beside him.

Matt turned his head, opened his eyes just enough to try and read her expression.

“I brought you some water,” she said, holding out a bottle to him.

He continued to look at her with a curious expression of his own.

“Take it,” she said. “You need to drink something.”

“What’s it matter?” he asked.

Jenny didn’t say anything, nothing out loud, just gave the bottle a little shake. 

Matt winced, turning over and sitting up; reluctantly taking the offered drink.

“Thanks.”

Jenny stared at him for a moment, watching as he took a few small sips. It was a bit unnerving and Matt knew what she was up to. That she was already peaking inside his head, but only gently; very gently.

“Tell me about the colony,” she said evenly.

“I don’t know anything about the colony.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I know,” he lied. “I believe that, but I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

Jenny continued to stare, to probe his memories, but this time not so gently.

_‘I’m not that weak,’_ Matt thought at her.

The effect was immediate. Jenny, remembering the pain he’d caused her before, backed out of his head.

“This man,” Jenny said after a lengthy pause, “the man who helped you escape, who was taking you to the colony. What was his name?”

“I told you that I never got it.”

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly.

“I think you’re lying to me.”

Matt shrugged slightly, before taking another sip of water. When he looked back up at Jenny, Audrey was in her place.

It was jarring.

“Don’t do this,” he said, shaking his head.

“Do what? I just want you to tell me the truth, Matt. I’m not going to hurt you, I’m not going to make you see or do or hear anything you don’t want to.”

He didn’t want to believe her. Matt really didn’t want to, knew what Jenny was really like, but it was a very convincing act.

“You’re good at truths, right?” she continued. “So tell me one. I already know where Claire Bennet was going, now I need to know who she was going with.”

“Why is that so important?” Matt asked. “Why do you care…”

“Because, you should know that whoever it was, they’ve tried to sell her off.”

“What? No. Now I know…”

Matt groaned, covering his mouth with his hand and shutting his eyes tightly. He hadn’t been prepared. He wasn’t strong enough to handle this; he wasn’t ready. 

And Jenny was definitely stronger than before. She’d been practicing. She’d been perfecting this.

“It’s true. You want to hear it from me? Want to read it out of my head?”

Matt opened his eyes, honestly relieved to see Jenny beside him once more.

_‘Bounty hunters. Bounty hunters with lists of their own.’_

“Why do you think I stay?” Jenny asked him seriously. “Out of loyalty? You know what it’s like out there for people like us.”

“Why though? What are they after? You know…”

“I don’t know anything,” Jenny answered flatly.

“Neither do I.”

“Tell me who he was,” Jenny urged. “Just his name. What good does it do you to keep quiet?”

“What good does it do me to talk?”

Jenny stared at him for a moment as if considering it.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“From you? Nothing.”

“I could…”

“You lied to me,” Matt said. “You told me that Audrey and Mohinder were going to be spared.”

“You know Mr. Petrelli.”

_‘I had no choice.’_

“See, you say that but you also say that you stay here because you want to. It’s safer here for you. No, I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

“I don’t want…”

“I don’t believe that either,” Matt interrupted. “You do want to hurt me. You like it, right? You say one thing but I know what you’re thinking. You like having this power. This kind of control.”

“And you don’t?” she shot back fiercely. “What I can do, no one else can. No one. If I wanted, I could have you crying in the corner right now and begging me to make it stop. That’s the kind of power I have.”

“You have nothing,” Matt said, suddenly angry now himself. “Nothing. You’re more of prisoner here than I am. At least there’s a way out for me. It’s over on Friday. Done. How long are you going to have to stay? How long are you going to have to worry that you aren’t living up to Nathan’s expectations? That you might be sold off to the next bounty hunter who comes along? That you might not be as special…”

“Shut up!”

Jenny got up and moved about the room, somewhat confused.

“So this man,” she finally said quietly after a few minutes silence. “You’re not going to tell me who he is.”

He only shook his head.

“Fine,” she said crisply. “Have it your way.”

Matt had only a split second to prepare himself for what happened next.


	25. Abduction

_…_

_“You were supposed to bring her to me.”_

_“And I will. My men are…”_

_“Your men haven’t been able to bring her in so far. For the past three years.”_

_“Yes, but…”_

_“Mr. Petrelli, I don’t like surprises. And I don’t like failure.”_

_“I assure you that whoever has told you that they have Claire Bennet is lying. My men are bringing her in as we speak.”_

_“You have confirmation of this.”_

_“I do,” Peter lied without hesitation._

_…_

“That’s all I remember of it.”

Beatrice paced the room uneasily.

“It was so strange,” he continued to explain. “It felt so real. I’ve never had one this strong before. ”

“You’ve been through a lot these past few days,” she said, trying to placate him.

“Do you think that maybe it’s a memory?”

“What…”

“No,” he said, already shaking his head and answering his own question, “it wasn’t a memory. I know… it felt like it was new. Like it was happening now. I was in it, but it wasn’t me. I was taking the place of…”

Beatrice stared at him, silently hoping he wouldn’t make the connection.

“They said my brother was Nathan Petrelli,” he said after a pause. “Is it possible I was seeing him? Seeing it through his eyes…”

“Anything is possible, Jonah.”

“But if I was, and it’s real… Claire’s in danger.”

“Well, we don’t know if it’s real or not,” Beatrice asked.

“But we can’t risk that.”

“No,” Beatrice said slowly. “We can’t.”

“I’m going to talk to her,” he said, already standing; his mind made up. “I’m going to talk to her and see if… I don’t know if she will still, but I have to ask if she’ll help me.”

“Why wouldn’t she help you?” she asked with some surprise.

“We had a fight of sorts,” he said hesitantly. “She doesn’t like the way things are ran around here. She thinks it’s unfair.”

“We try very hard…”

“I know,” he cut off. “I tried to explain it but… She thinks that the people without gifts are expected to do too much of the labor.”

“If she wanted a mission all she had to do was ask,” Beatrice returned, somewhat thankful. It was like a blessing in disguise. “In fact, we’ve been meaning to send a few people out towards Lady Liberty. See if we’ve had any new arrivals. If she’d like, she can go. Her and Maggie. Tonight. I think they’d do well.”

He wasted no time, but finding Claire hadn’t turned out to be an easy thing. Peter had checked everywhere he could think of. He’d stopped by her room, by Niki’s room, in the common areas, but she just seemed to have disappeared.

“Where’s Claire?”

Ando looked up at Peter and shook his head.

“I haven’t seen her this morning,” he answered. “She was pretty upset last night…”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry about that, but…”

“Don’t apologize to me,” Ando said quickly.

Peter nodded, eyes shut tightly.

“I really need to talk to her,” he continued. “I had this dream, this really strange dream and I keep feeling like… I don’t know, like something bad…”

Ando gave him a curious look.

“What kind of dream?” he asked.

“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Peter answered with a shake of his head.

Ando just stared at him.

“I was talking to someone,” he started to explain. “Telling someone that I was going to give Claire over to them.”

“Are you sure it was you?” Ando asked, remembering well how Peter’s dreams used to work; wondering if it was still the same.

Peter gave him an odd look.

“No,” he answered. “No, I don’t think it was. I think it might have been… it might have been my brother.”

“Nathan?” Ando asked, clearly alarmed. “You’re sure?”

Peter just nodded.

“Let’s go,” Ando said, moving quickly out of the room. “We need to find her. Now.”

****

Claire sat on the railings near the train tracks, the same place Peter had brought her to talk that first night they’d arrived.

“I just don’t… How could he change so much?” she asked.

“People change,” Niki answered, leaning with her back against the railing. “It happens all the time. It has been three years.”

“I know,” Claire sighed. “I guess I just thought… I’m just disappointed.”

“Men will do that,” Niki said with a dry smile.

“Well, I don’t exactly have a lot of experience in that department.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s been you and me in a house full of guys for nearly two years,” Niki said laughing. “You should have plenty.”

Claire laughed.

“But it’s different,” she said, looking at her feet and shaking her head. “You know, I kind of had… maybe the smallest of crushes…”

“It’s the hair,” Niki supplied.

Claire laughed harder at that.

“But really,” Claire continued. “Am I wrong? Even with the memory loss, I just can’t understand how he could be this almost completely different person.”

“He’s not that different,” Niki argued.

Claire said nothing.

“He’s really not,” Niki repeated. “Maybe it’s because you did have the smallest of crushes on him, but Peter… Peter never had the greatest self confidence.”

“Yeah, but…”

“I’m not saying he isn’t great,” Niki continued. “He is. And I’m not saying that the Peter we knew wouldn’t have done anything his power to help any one of us. He always put others before himself. Everyone before himself.”

Claire nodded.

“I’m only saying that it’s been three years. He can’t remember any of us, his family, his life. All he has is this past year, this new life.”

“So I should maybe give him a break?”

“Yes,” Niki said with a nod.

Claire sat quietly, considering it all. Trying to set it all right in her head.

“Thanks,” Claire said quietly.

“Any time.”

“So, do you think…”

Claire stopped suddenly as she heard a strange pop sound and felt something bounce off the back of her neck.

She and Niki both turned at the same time, looking at the object with a strange curiosity.

A dart.

Niki understood a split second before Claire did; they were in trouble.

Not saying anything, not waiting for her to move on her own, Niki took Claire by the arm and began to run for the entrance.

“Take them down!” they heard a man yell from a short distance away. “Don’t let them get inside!”

That’s when the gunfire started.

Niki and Claire had no where to go. They were still to far away from the door and had zero cover.

So far the men weren’t aiming at them, just firing to keep them out in the open.

And they were moving in.

“Claire!”

Both women turned at once, seeing Peter and Ando running out the door; running towards them.

“No!” Niki yelled, still hunched down. “Get back! Go inside and get help!”

Only Ando listened, Peter kept coming towards them.

“Peter, no!” Claire shouted.

And as she did it, she stood upright. Fully upright.

The sound was sickening.

Niki and Peter both watched, horrified, as Claire’s entire body went slack from the bullet that had ripped through her body, through her chest.

“No!” Peter yelled, running towards them now at full speed. “Claire, no!”

The man who shot Claire then turned, and Niki knew, she just knew what was going to happen next, but wasn’t quick enough to stop it.

The man fired off three shots, all of them hitting their mark, before she reached him.

It wasn’t pretty.

Niki wrenched the man’s arm up, taking the gun, with such force that the snap was audible. She’d nearly ripped his arm off.

As she wheeled around, ready to return fire on the approaching men, she was met with a sharp blow to the head.

Niki staggered backwards, seeing stars and just trying to stay on her feet.

“Leave her!” she heard someone shout. “We’re not after her; we’ve got who we came for!”

“Get away from her,” Niki shouted, firing wildly and striking two of the attackers.

One of them fired back, hitting her in the arm and sending her off balance, crashing to the ground.

“Go! Go!”

Niki struggled to her feet, ignoring the pain she felt, franticly trying to stop what was happening, but they were already moving away.

Claire still looked unconscious in their arms, but Niki could see the blood had stopped flowing; she was healing, if not already completely healed.

Clutching her own arm, Niki tried running after them but was forced to stop when several more shots rang out all around her.

“Niki!”

She turned, seeing Ando coming towards her with a few of colony members, all carrying guns. He made straight for her as the rest of the group headed off in the direction that the men who took Claire had gone in.

“What’s happened?” he asked, tentatively reaching for her injured arm. “Where’s Claire? Where’s…”

“Peter,” she finished for him, moving quickly to where he had fallen.

Niki kneeled down beside him.

“Oh God,” she said, seeing the blood pooled on his chest. “I tried to tell him not to. Not to run…”

Peter gasped. He gasped and sat up.

Both Niki and Ando jumped.

Peter took a few shuddery breaths, shook his head as if to clear it and then began to frantically look around him.

“Where’s Claire?” he asked. “Where is she? Did they… did they take her?”

“How…” Niki started to ask.

“How what?” Peter returned, getting to his feet.

“They shot you,” Niki said blankly. “I saw them. They shot you three times.”

Peter looked down at his chest, touching the blood on this shirt before lifting it up to check for himself.

He didn’t even have a scratch.

“How did you…” Niki still stuttered. “You weren’t close enough. You never got close enough to Claire to…”

“We can’t worry about that now,” Peter said dismissively, and like it or not Niki knew he was right.

“They’re gone,” one of the colony members who had gone out after them said. “They had a helicopter. There was no way…”

“Go make sure the council knows,” Peter said, hurrying the man off.

“Who were they?” Niki asked, mostly to herself.

“They’re from the Order,” Peter answered.

Niki gave him a hard look.

“I had a dream,” he said, shaking his head and refusing to meet her gaze. “That they were, that Nathan…”

Peter shook his head again, harder this time and walked away from the two of them.

“What are we going to do?” Ando asked Niki. “We have to go after her. We have to save her.”

“I know,” Niki said quietly. “Damn it, I do. But how? How are we going to save her?”

A wave of déjà vu washed across Peter like a tide.

They’d done this before.

“You’re arm,” Ando was saying now. “You should have that looked at.”

“Later,” Niki said. “It’s a graze. It’s fine.”

“Doesn’t it…”

“What were you both saying,” Peter said, turning back towards them. “Something about saving… Have we done this? Claire said that… she’d told me…”

Ando and Niki watched; they could nearly see the pieces falling into place inside Peter’s head.

“Save…” he repeated softly. “We did this…”

“No,” Ando said gently. “You did. You…”

“Save the cheerleader. Save the world.”

Peter turned away from them in confusion, but this was an entirely new kind of confusion.

It was coming back. It was slow, but it was returning. The paintings. The warnings. The gathering. The final battle. All of it now.

“We’ve got… we’ve got to go after them,” Peter said. “We’ve got to keep them from… from whatever it is…”

Peter scrubbed a hand furiously across his face.

“How did this? How… when I was gone, what…?”

“Sit down,” Niki ordered.

Peter didn’t even think of disobeying. He felt too weak to do anything but listen and comply.

“Do you remember that day?” Ando asked, clasping hold of him by the shoulder.

He nodded.

“I told them to run for it,” Peter said. “I made them go. I thought I might…”

And that’s when he realized. Running a hand across his chest, he remembered that as well. Why he hadn’t needed to be close to Claire to use her powers. Those last few minutes, those last looks that had been haunting him in his dreams. That brief time when he’d been just close enough to Sylar and just close enough to Claire to see how it was done. To see how to adapt his own body. To see…

“What’s happened?”

The three of them looked up at David, Beatrice and Albert.

“Charles said there was a shooting,” Beatrice said. “An abduction. What…”

“They took Claire,” Peter said, getting to his feet.

“Who took Claire, Jonah?”

“No,” he said shaking his head. “That’s not my name. I remember. I remember now. Everything. It just, it came back.”

“That’s excellent,” she responded somewhat stoically, but Peter didn’t notice.

Niki did.

“So what are we going to do?” Ando asked expectantly.

“You mean when are we going to leave,” Niki corrected.

“We should go now,” Peter said immediately. “They’re probably halfway there. We can’t catch them but we can…”

“Slow down,” Beatrice interrupted. “We shouldn’t rush…”

“We should what?” Niki asked. “I’m sorry, are you coming with us?”

“No, but…”

“Then stay out of it.”

“Niki,” Peter said.

“No,” Niki shot back. “This has nothing to do with her.”

“I was only offering to help,” Beatrice said calmly.

“We don’t need your help.”

“Have it your way,” she said, but continued to look at Peter.

“We should leave tonight,” Niki said. “As soon as we can. Now even. We know where D.L. and the others were headed. Where they planned to stay, we can meet up with them. Tell them the situation has changed.”

Both men nodded in agreement.

“How soon do you think we can be ready?” she asked to Ando.

“An hour tops.”

She nodded before turning her full attention to Peter.

“Are you with us?” she asked.

He didn’t hesitate.

“Of course.”


	26. Belief

Claire woke up feeling off.

Her head swam and the lights, the lights were entirely too bright.

“Where…”

“Ms. Bennet,” a familiar voice said. “Nice of you to join us.”

“What’s happened? Why…”

Claire blinked heavily a few times.

The room was white and her hands, she couldn’t lift her hands.

“Nathan?” she asked.

“They had to drug you,” he said. “Heavily as I understand it. They couldn’t very well keep putting bullets in you. Well wait, I guess they could.”

Claire looked down and shook her head to clear the cobwebs.

“I wonder if they overdid it?” Nathan asked no one in particular. “I wonder if that’s even possible, with you I mean.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, her head finally clearing.

“Why?” he asked back. “Why not?”

“Are you going to… what are you going to do with me?” Claire asked, realizing that he couldn’t exactly kill her. Well, he could try.

“Me?” Nathan asked in mock surprise. “Oh, I’m not going to do anything to you. I’m just holding you a few days for some friends of mine. They’ll be here on Friday to take you home.”

“What?” Claire asked, shocked and finally fully awake. “What do you mean? Who?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

Claire was trying not to panic, but it wasn’t easy. She looked around the room, at her handcuffed wrists, at the men with Nathan, at everything.

“Oh,” Nathan added, “and don’t worry about your friends. They won’t be going with you but you can see them off, in a way.”

Nathan turned to leave, was heading for the door and Claire knew she wouldn’t get another chance, that she may never get another chance to talk to him again. To try and get him to see reason. To make him stop.

“Peter,” she shouted out just as Nathan got to the door.

It wasn’t brilliant, but it did the trick. It stopped him.

“I’m sorry?” he said, all calm and composed on the surface, as he turned slightly to look once more at her.

“He’s alive, Nathan. He is. I saw him. He’s alive and…”

Nathan moved so quickly, was in her face and practically nose-to-nose with her in such a rush that Claire actually felt the wind tear around her.

“Don’t,” he said quietly through gritted teeth.

Claire took in a small gulp of air. Transfixed. Afraid.

“Just don’t.”

“It’s true,” she said as steadily as she could manage.

Nathan took a few steps away from her, shaking his head in disbelief.

“He doesn’t remember what’s happened,” Claire went on, gaining courage. “He can’t remember any of it, but he knew some things about you and your mother and…”

“Stop!” Nathan shouted at her.

Claire looked down, unable to keep a few tears from sliding down her cheeks.

“Stop it now,” Nathan said with quiet determination. “You’re only saying that… You’re lying.”

“Have I ever lied to you, Nathan?”

For a moment, he considered it. He really considered if it was true or not. If it was even possible, what she was saying, but couldn’t believe it. Nathan couldn’t afford to believe it.

This wasn’t just about him, not entirely. Sure, Nathan was involved, had led the way, but he was a figurehead at best. Primatech pulled the strings, they had the real power and they never let him forget it.

“You know,” Nathan said with an odd laugh, “you’re a lot like Parkman. A lot. And I know what you’re trying to do. You think if I get mad enough I’ll make it quick, give you an easy out.”

“That’s not…”

“It’s not going to happen,” he continued, ignoring her response entirely. “I’ve got plans for you, Claire. You and him both.”

Nathan turned on his heels, heading quickly for the door as if determined to hear no more.

“Nathan!” Claire yelled after him. “I’m telling the truth! I’m telling you the truth!”

He didn’t stop once, not once. Just opened the door and left without ever looking back.

The next few hours were a blur.

Not long after Nathan left, a man and a woman came in to escort her out of the room. Claire didn’t fight it, didn’t speak, just went along with it. Went with them without a word, trying to decide what to do next.

Before she was even fully aware of how far they’d gone, Claire found herself in front of a rather large man in uniform.

“I’ve got her,” he told the others who promptly left.

Claire wouldn’t even look at him.

“Let’s get this straight now,” he said to her in a firm voice. “You’re only going to be here a few days, but while you’re here I’m in charge. Got that?”

She said nothing.

“As long as you don’t cause me any problems, no one down here is going to cause you any.”

Claire looked up and gave him a small nod of acceptance.

“Good,” he said, taking her by the arm to start their walk down the long hallway together.

He didn’t say anything else to her, only startled her by knocking his nightstick sharply against one of the doors as they’d passed it.

Claire looked up at him, not expecting to find him staring back; even more surprised to see his eyes flicker from her and back to the door he’d just hit.

Turning her head slightly, looking back as he’d done, she saw a man in the window staring out at them as they passed.

Claire nearly cried out in surprise.

It was Mohinder.

It was really him, looking back at her clearly just as stunned as she was by all of this.

She didn’t know what to make of it. Of the guard, of this man actually going to the trouble of letting her and them know she was there.

“This is your cell,” he said as they stopped. “You’re alone down here so don’t get any funny ideas.”

Claire gave him a questioning look, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze any longer. He only opened the door, removed her handcuffs and pointed the way inside.

“Good luck,” she heard him mutter as the door slammed shut.

She stood there for a moment unsure what was happening, if this all wasn’t some massive hallucination. It felt unreal.

Was that man, that guard, trying to help her?

It didn’t seem possible.

Claire shook her head. She had to pull herself together. She had to think.

Sitting on the lone cot in the room, Claire tried to piece together everything she knew.

She remembered the abduction, at least how it began. Claire realized that at some point she’d either been shot or sedated and carted off, but wasn’t sure when that was. It didn’t matter. What mattered was right now she was in big trouble. Nathan had obviously made some deal, some kind of trade with the people her father used to work for. They’d take her back to Texas and then what? What were they going to do to her?

Claire looked around the room desperately. There was no way out. None. She supposed they’d have to take her somewhere else for meals, unless they brought them to her. She might have a chance then. Niki had certainly taught her enough about defensive and offensive fighting, enough that she stood a reasonable chance against one man alone. The problem was, Claire doubted very much that it would only be one man between herself and freedom.

And then there was Mohinder. If he was down here, so was Audrey. And Matt.

Sighing, she buried her head in her hands.

She couldn’t leave them. Claire couldn’t leave him behind again; wouldn’t. No matter what.

Claire needed help.

Maybe that guard…

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of voices just outside her door.

“Are you sure about this?” she heard the guard who had brought her in say.

There was no answer, but she assumed that whoever it was with him really was certain.

“Alright,” she heard as the door began to swing open.

Claire stood up; staring.

“You’ve got a visitor,” the guard told her before shutting Claire inside with the other woman.

****

Matt sat with his head cradled in his hands.

He felt like he was just on the edge of being violently ill; that it was just restrained. He was unsure of everything right now, only knowing that Jenny would be back. She was gone now, but Matt knew she’d be back.

She was no where near done with him yet.

What he needed to do right now was pull it together. Matt needed to use this time to recover his senses and figure out the best way of fending her off.

Not that he was entirely sure he could do that anymore.

Each time she came back, it got worse. It was almost as if Jenny was feeding off of him, off of his ability and redoubling it back towards him.

Matt didn’t know what to do.

He supposed he could just let her do it. That fighting it at all might be a mistake, but he was more afraid of giving in than he was of anything else. Because giving in right now would be easy, too easy. It might even be a relief. To just go along with whatever she was telling him. To believe it. To want to believe it.

And it would be a mistake.

Matt knew, he just knew that if he gave in, if he started to believe what he saw from her, she really could make him do anything she wanted him to do. Jenny could make him not only see her differently, but the world as well. She could change him.

It wasn’t worth it, he had to remember that.

That no matter how much pain and heartache she may put him through, it was going to end. Eventually, soon even.

Matt wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry when it dawned on him that he was looking forward to Friday; looking forward to the day that this would all be over with.

With his eyes still shut tightly, his head still resting in his hands, he heard the door open.

She was back again.

Jenny.

He wouldn’t look. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. He would make her come to him.

It was the only power he had right now.

Neither of them moved an inch.

Matt was still refusing to look up, to see what part of his life she was imitating now, and Jenny didn’t seem to want to approach him until he did.

Finally, as she let out a half stifled sob, he looked. He had to look. If anything, he had to get it over with.

He wasn’t surprised to see Claire there, not really. Claire was probably Jenny’s favorite distraction, her favorite person to use against him, and he knew why. It wasn’t a relationship she could understand, but one she could exploit. Use against him.

It worked very well.

Matt really wasn’t sure he could go through this again.

“Matt?” he heard her ask tentatively.

He wasn’t going to answer. Matt just put his head back down and shut his eyes; it was all he could do.

“What’s…” she’d started to ask, much closer now than before, but was stopped with a shuddery sigh.

She sat down beside him, lightly touching his shoulder and waited.

Matt couldn’t understand it. Why she was acting like this? Usually Jenny just dived right in with the questions or the torment or the mind games. In a lot of ways, this felt worse. The suspense. He just wanted it over with.

But she wasn’t in a hurry.

Matt felt her slowly pull his hand into her own and lean against his shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world. As if she’d done it a thousand times before, and the truth was that the real Claire had when she was sad or scared, or when she thought he was. It was so frighteningly real, Matt wondered if he finally had cracked. If she’d won after all.

He turned and looked at her, only able to glimpse the top of her head. It was her turn to avoid looking his way.

_‘I’m so sorry.’_

She’d squeezed his hand. She knew he’d been listening.

Was this real? He couldn’t tell anymore.

“Claire?” he asked tentatively.

She responded by looking back at him with red eyes and a curious expression on her face.

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” she finally said.

Matt couldn’t answer and he couldn’t look away.

“Because I’m here,” she continued. “Because after everything you’ve done, I still ended up…”

Tears were beginning slide down her face and she couldn’t finish the sentence out loud. She didn’t need to.

Matt shook his head slightly, neither answering her nor believing it. He didn’t want to believe it. This wasn’t really Claire, it couldn’t be.

“I don’t want it to end like this,” she said, resting her head back against his shoulder.

_‘D.L. and the others are on their way. Jacobs is with them. They’re going to try and…’_

Matt jumped away from her, startled by what he’d heard. How did she come up with Jacobs’ name? That was the information she’d been after, wasn’t it?

She was startled too, he could see it in her eyes; startled by his reaction and his sudden movement.

“Matt, what’s wrong?”

He got to his feet uneasily and continued to stare at her.

_‘What did I do? Are you mad because they’re coming or…’_

“Jenny, stop it.”

“Jenny?”

“Stop,” he said as forcefully as he could, turning away from her and putting as much distance between them as the cell would allow.

“Who’s Jenny?” she asked, standing now and looking extremely confused. “Don’t you... you know me, right?”

“I don’t know what I know anymore.”

Matt pressed his back to the wall before sliding down it, sitting on the floor.

She came over and sat down beside him, being certain to keep her distance this time.

“Oh, Matt,” she said sadly. “What did they do to you?”

_‘Don’t you remember me?’_

“Of course I do,” he said softly. “I just can’t tell… It’s not real. You’re not really here.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You can’t be here,” he said, shaking his head.

“I know you don’t want me to be, but…”

“No, you can’t be,” he said angrily. “This isn’t you. It’s not…”

_‘I don’t believe it,’_ he said inside her head.

Matt watched her reaction and the imitation was perfect. The look on her face was one of partial surprise and annoyance, the way Claire was always annoyed when he did that. She hated that.

It gave him pause.

Jenny, although good and getting better at her hallucinations, was never this good. She’d never gotten anyone this perfect before. Matt hadn’t believed her entirely, not this entirely since the first time he’d met her when she’d impersonated Audrey. And then, even then he’d had moments of doubt.

“Matt?” she asked once more uncertainly.

_‘Give me something. Please,’_ he told her. _‘Anything so I can be sure.’_

“What do you want me to tell you, Officer Peterson?” Claire asked, an interesting mix of serious and haughty.

But it worked.

Matt actually laughed and knew. He knew exactly what Claire was saying and why. How perfect a response it was. How very Claire.

Once he got over his initial laughter, his initial relief, that familiar sense of dread began to wash over him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” he said, pulling her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Claire. You just don’t know. I hope you don’t have to know.”

“You shouldn’t be apologizing, I should. This is my fault, if I hadn’t left you… I thought you… Just don’t be mad at me, please don’t.”

“I’m not mad and I’d never blame you for this,” he said quickly, “but how did this happen? Did… did Jacobs…”

“What? No,” Claire said with a shake of her head. “No. He took me to the colony, just like he promised. Why?”

“It’s not important. Not right now,” Matt returned. “We’ve got to think. We’ve…”

He sighed, running a hand over his head in sheer frustration.

“I don’t have a lot of time,” Claire said. “They’d said they’d only give me half an hour, so whatever we’re going to plan…”

“Who said?” Matt asked.

“The guards, that head guard. Heidi came and visited me,” Claire answered. “Made them let me see you.”

“So D.L. is really on his way here?” Matt asked.

“Of course he is,” she said. “As soon as we found out…”

Claire couldn’t help it. Couldn’t stop the emotions that had begun to well up again.

“It’s my fault,” she continued. “All of this. If I hadn’t left you behind, but Matt, I really thought… I could have sworn you were…”

“Claire, it’s alright…”

“It just, there was so much blood… both of us thought for sure… but I guess it wasn’t that bad, right?”

Matt didn’t know what to say.

“Although,” she said with a false laugh, “given what they plan to do, I’m surprised they bothered.”

“Claire,” Matt said, “they didn’t fix me. When they picked me up, there was nothing for them to fix.”

“No,” Claire said, shaking her head for emphasis. “You were shot…”

“No, I know I was. I’m saying that you healed it. You fixed it.”

“What? No. I couldn’t… I can’t do that. I can’t…”

Claire continued to shake her head at him for a moment longer.

“How?” she asked. “How could I…”

“I don’t know.”

Claire looked at him as if she didn’t want to believe it. She knew he wouldn’t lie to her, but it was too much to comprehend. She’d really only gotten used to being able to heal herself. This, this was insanity.

“Claire, I know it’s easier to believe that I wasn’t…”

She shushed him, studying his face with a sort of new fascination.

The bruises.

Matt didn’t stop her as she put her hand to his cheek, as she closed her eyes and concentrated harder than she had before. Instinctively knowing what was to be done.

_‘I don’t want to see him like this. I don’t want him to hurt. I want it to go away. To stop. It has to stop. It has to be alright.’_

Claire opened her eyes again and gasped.


	27. Mistaken

Peter returned to his room to gather a few things and change out of his blood soaked shirt. Niki and Ando were going to meet him in half an hour which gave him just enough time to do what needed to be done and not think too much.

He couldn’t afford to think right now.

Peter, having just found a duffel bag to put his things in, heard a knock at the door.

“It’s open,” he hollered, still busy pulling together a quick change of clothes.

“So you’re really going?” he heard Beatrice ask.

“Of course I am,” he answered without hesitation.

“But these people, you hardly know…”

“I told you,” Peter interrupted, “I remember now. I… these are my friends. I know you were skeptical and so was I, a little bit, but…”

Peter sighed, shaking his head and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

This was why he hadn’t wanted to stop and think about it. It was too overwhelming when he did.

“You need more time,” Beatrice said, sitting beside him and sensing his unease. “You need to take a step back. To figure things out before…”

“No,” Peter said abruptly, standing again and resuming his packing. “I can’t waste anymore time. If I have questions, Niki and Ando will help me sort them out on the way.”

“And what about your gifts? Will you have time to sort them out on the way too?”

“I hope so,” Peter returned with as much confidence as he could manage.

“So you’re just going to storm in and what exactly?” Beatrice asked. “Is there even a plan? And for what? For who exactly? This girl, this Claire… they’re not going to kill her. They’re just going to…”

Peter stopped, fixing Beatrice with an odd, inquisitive look.

“How do you know what they’re going to do? What they’re plans are? Right now we know the Order is planning to execute three of my other friends, why wouldn’t they do that to Claire?”

“I was only speculating,” Beatrice said dismissively. “Of course I don’t know what…”

But Peter was already putting it together.

“That dream,” he said with a short nod. “That dream I had about the phone call. I was so focused on the Order wanting to get her that I didn’t… I didn’t think about what it meant that someone else already said they had her. That someone else was already planning to turn her over… Over to who, exactly? Who were you going to send her to meet tonight? What’s really happening here?”

“It’s not…” Beatrice said with a grimace and a shake of her head. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. They’re not killing them.”

“They’re not killing them?” Peter repeated disbelievingly. “So that makes it alright?”

“It’s something we have to do,” Beatrice said firmly. “We need Primatech’s help. They showed us the way here, have kept the Order…”

“The Order just swooped in and took Claire…” Peter shot back at her. “They just…”

“They provide us with food and electricity,” Beatrice continued, ignoring his outburst. “They give us security. A place of our own. I think that’s worth sacrificing…”

“No it’s not,” Peter said angrily. “It’s not worth that. We’re talking about people here.”

“We don’t have a choice. They can come up here anytime they want and take us all away. The things they can do… Peter, it is the only way.”

“Is that what… is that what happened to Samuel? Did he find out or want out or…”

“It was necessary.”

“Who knows about this? Who else is in on it?” Peter asked.

“Only myself and Albert,” Beatrice answered. “Peter, it’s why I want you on the council. I wanted to tell you. I wanted you to be apart of this.”

“You really think I’d want to be apart of this?”

Beatrice said nothing.

“How am I supposed to believe that anyway?” Peter continued. “How am I supposed to believe anything you’ve told me?”

“You have every right to be mad, but it really is the only option. It’s saved us.”

“It’s saved you.”

Peter began to pace the room, angrier than he’d ever felt before.

“My dreams,” he finally said. “Am I your source; am I your inside for the Order? I’ve been… for months now I’ve been dreaming about my brother and you knew, right? You knew who he was and you knew who I was too. Primatech had me on their list. They knew… so you knew.”

“It’s not…”

“So if you really wanted to help me, you would have just told me. You knew who I really was and yet…”

“I didn’t know how you’d take knowing that Nathan Petrelli was your brother,” she lied. “Knowing what he’s done…”

Peter shook his head, turning his back to her.

“That’s not…”

“You were going through a very trying time,” Beatrice continued. “I knew you weren’t ready for the truth.”

“You had no right deciding that. Keeping that from me. Beatrice, I trusted you.”

“Peter, you trust everyone.”

Turning back around to face her, he saw her holding a gun on him.

“What are you doing?”

“I can’t give them Claire but I can still give them you. I hope you know it’s not personal. This is business.”

“I’ve already been shot today,” Peter said, taking a step towards her. “I think…”

“Are you sure?” Beatrice said cutting him off but taking a step backwards in the process. “Do you really want to…”

“Are you willing to take that chance?” he continued, still moving towards her. “They probably won’t be too happy if I’m dead. Am I right?”

“You’re right,” she said. Her voice was confident, but despite being the one armed, she was also the one backing away. “I’ll aim for the kneecap to be safe.”

“You wouldn’t.”

He took one more step forward.

“I’m sorry but…”

Beatrice took one more step back.

“You are sorry.”

Beatrice turned suddenly towards the new voice, towards Niki’s voice. The other woman gave her no other warning, had slid silently into the room and had been watching the exchange, had been motioning Peter forward with her eyes for the past minute. When Beatrice had turned, startled as Niki knew she would be, Niki punched her.

One punch was all it took.

“You alright?” Niki asked Peter, stepping over the Beatrice as she crossed the room.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Peter sighed, grabbing his things.

“Sounds good to me.”

“No wait,” Peter said, stopping in the doorway. “I need to talk to David first. He needs to know about Beatrice and Albert. About Primatech. It won’t take long.”

“Alright,” Niki agreed. “I’d like to know what’s happening here myself.”

****

“You’re late. Again.”

“My apologies,” Nathan said as he slid into his chair. “As you can imagine, my division has been extremely busy as of late.”

“Yes,” Carl Wright, the Board’s most senior member replied. “Congratulations. Two right off the top.”

“Yes, well…” Nathan began, leaning back in his chair with ease.

“It’s about time,” the older man barked. “We were beginning to look like fools.”

“I think we’re past beginning,” Cynthia Stamford added dryly giving Nathan a hard look.

He gave her a single, short nod of his head, smiling tightly.

Nathan hated these meetings, but like everything else, they were a necessary evil. This is where the real decisions were made; where action was determined. The five people in this room controlled all aspects of life inside the Order. Each had their own division, their own responsibilities, and each was only answerable to one another.

Well, one another and the Republic; to Primatech.

Carl Wright was in charge of Justice. He oversaw all trials personally, not that there were a lot of trials. Most of the guilty didn’t live that long. He also set forth new laws, new instructions.

Cynthia Stamford was in charge of Enforcement. She, along with her ever growing staff, planned checkpoints, patrolled streets, ensured curfews were being met. They were fairly good at what they did and getting better. They were always getting better.

Trenton West and James Calloway were in charge of Provisions and Education respectively. West was always busy as providing for a new nation wasn’t an easy task, but Calloway’s division was still in the planning stages. His correct title should have been Director of Reeducation.

Nathan, of course, was in charge of Abnormalities. It was his job, his duty, to track down and contain all of the people inside the Order who were considered outside the norm. Out of them all, he’d had the most success and the most failure. Nathan was always coming up with new laws, new ways of tracking and collecting these people, but they kept escaping. Most of their powers were so advanced it was near impossible to contain them.

That’s why they need Primatech’s help so much.

That’s why Claire Bennet was so important.

Primatech had engineered weapons that would neutralize an individual’s power. They had designed rooms that could contain people who might otherwise be free to leave whenever they’d liked. Primatech was working on a way to reverse the process; to end this nightmare.

They needed Primatech.

“When will they arrive to take custody of her?” Carl asked.

“Friday.”

“And they don’t want them both?” Cynthia said.

“Both?” Nathan returned, trying to feign ignorance.

“Bennet and Parkman,” she elaborated. “They’re both on the list. They didn’t offer anything for him as well?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?”

“Even if they did,” Nathan answered crisply, “I wouldn’t have accepted. Parkman is dangerous and needs to be disposed of.”

“Dangerous?” she scoffed. “He reads people’s thoughts. Granted, I wouldn’t invite him over for dinner, but he’s hardly dangerous.”

“I know my job,” Nathan spat back bitterly.

“Maybe you don’t. I mean, if you’re just willing to throw away an opportunity like this. I have no objection to the other two dying, but Parkman could be valuable. You’re killing off an asset, and for what I wonder.”

“How many execution orders have I signed?”

“You expect me to keep track of those…”

“I’ve signed three,” Nathan answered for her. “Three. Parkman. Hanson. Suresh. Just three. I do not take this lightly, so I am very serious when I say it has to be done.”

Silence filled the room.

“Have it your way.”

****

Beatrice awoke with a groan, Albert shaking her arm furiously.

“We’ve got to go,” he said to her.

“What?” she asked as she struggled to her feet. “What’s happened?”

“They know,” was Albert said.

That cleared Beatrice’s head better than anything else could have. She gave him a short nod and together they headed for the back entrance. She was relieved to learn he had already packed a bag for the both of them so all they had to was go.

Once they were a good distance away from the colony she heard Albert sigh.

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“We’ll make our way,” Beatrice said reassuringly. “Head back into the Order’s territory. Blend in. It will be fine.”

“And Primatech?” Albert asked skeptically. “You don’t think our friends there won’t object to us just blending in? Walking away like this?”

He didn’t have to explain it further. She knew which friends he meant; their only friends.

“Shouldn’t we try to contact them?” Albert asked when she didn’t answer his first question.

“No.”

“Why not?”

They both stopped in their tracks at the sound of the woman’s voice just behind them.

“Don’t you think they’ll want to know what’s happened here?” Maggie asked, staring the two of them down and carrying what looked like a flare gun.

She’d probably followed them, Beatrice assumed. Maggie was good at that. She practically lived in the shadows.

“Just go back to the colony and tell them we’re going. We don’t want any more trouble.”

“I’m not going back to the colony,” Maggie interrupted. “And, I guarantee, you won’t be any more trouble.”

“What do you…”

“It’s you,” Albert said suddenly, seeing the truth in her as the colors around her changed. “You were the one. We knew that they had someone watching but I never thought… We always assumed it was someone…”

“Normal?” Maggie asked. “What good would that do? You’d never trust anyone that wasn’t ‘gifted’. Who wasn’t like you. They knew that.”

“Do they know about…”

“I’ve already told them about both Bennet and Petrelli,” Maggie answered before Beatrice could even finish the sentence. “They’re not very happy with you. Either of you.”

“You told them we tried, right?” Beatrice begged. “You told them we’ve done everything…”

“They don’t want excuses, they want results.”

“We can still go back,” Beatrice said quickly. “We can go back and pick any two…”

“But I’ve already got two.”

Beatrice looked around hopefully before it dawned on her exactly which two Maggie meant.

“What’s going to happen…”

Maggie didn’t let her finish the sentence. She fired the gun in her hand, wincing slightly at the flash of light before smiling at the results. Both Albert and Beatrice were unconscious before her as planned.

“Two to pick up,” Maggie said in her transmitter.

“Copy that,” was the response.

“Good,” she said turning to go. “I’m heading back in.”


	28. Concession

“We’ve got two days.”

“Less than that,” Micah corrected his father. “We’ve got a day and a half. They’ve scheduled the hangings for noon.”

“We’d be pushing it if we don’t at least try before tomorrow night,” Jacobs said shaking his head. “I just don’t see how…”

“We’ll think of something,” D.L. said with as much confidence as he could.

“Well, I can override any alarms and any electric locks they have in place,” Micah said. “And we know they’re in this block.”

Micah pointed to the screen on his laptop.

“This is the only separate holding area they have,” he continued. “And they have three cells in use right now, that’s one a piece, so…”

“A guess?” Jacobs asked.

“An educated guess,” Micah returned.

The man shrugged; admitting that educated guesses were all they had.

“The problem is,” Micah continued, “this is the most heavily guarded section. Even with the alarms off, the electricity off, we’d still be outnumbered in that main hallway.”

“No exterior wall’s I can burn through, then?” Jacobs’ asked half-heartedly. He knew the answer already.

“What about underneath?” Hiro asked. “We know they’re on the ground level. What if we come up underneath them? Tunnel to them.”

“From here?” Jacobs smiled. “I’m good but that…”

“It wouldn’t have to be that far,” D.L. interrupted. “That building has a basement, right? A sewer? Anything like that?”

“Hold on,” Micah said, rapidly pulling up the information requested.

It took half a second at the most.

“Yeah, it does.”

“Good,” D.L. said with a short nod. “Find us a way in it. I’ve got an idea.”

****

“I talked to Claire.”

Nathan looked up from his papers, unable to hide his surprise.

“She told me about Peter,” Heidi continued.

“She’s lying,” he replied, returning to what he’d been doing before she’d interrupted him.

“I always liked her,” Heidi said, moving closer to her husband. “She was such a sweet girl. I remember thinking I’d never met a more polite…”

“What do you want me to do Heidi?”

“I want you to remember who you are,” she answered bitterly. “That man you were. The one I married.”

“That man is gone,” Nathan said quietly.

“I don’t believe that.”

“You should.”

For a moment neither of them spoke, the tension in the room thick.

“Do you even care anymore what they are setting you up to become? That they’ve made you a poster boy for all of this? What all of this is leading to?”

“And what is that?” Nathan shot back at her.

“No one on that Board wants to contain the problem, Nathan. They want to eliminate it. That’s the next step, you know it is. And they’re setting you up to be the fall guy. When it’s all said and done, they have… what’s that term politicians love so much? Plausible deniability. They have it. It’s not their division, it’s yours.”

Nathan shook his head at her vigorously. He knew she was right, but he wasn’t willing to admit it.

He had started with the best of intentions; the road to hell, as they say.

After the destruction of New York, there had been the earthquakes and the floods and so many more disasters to deal with. Every day brought another wave of damage and more stories of men and women who could cause it.

Martial law had been declared and it had been welcomed, but it wasn’t enough. No matter what Peter or Hiro or any of them wanted to believe, not everyone was good. Not everyone who had a gift or a power wanted to use it to benefit mankind.

There were plenty of them out there for themselves.

That’s when Primatech stepped in for the first time.

Primatech essentially ran the Republic and the Republic essentially stepped in and created the Untied Order. They handpicked who would lead, who would sit on the Board and dictated how things would work.

And Nathan never doubted why he was chosen. That they knew, they knew he was one of them. That he had been involved in the attempt to stop Sylar, to stop the explosion. How they’d failed.

“That’s not how it works,” he sighed in return to her accusations. “We all work together. Make decisions together. No one person…”

“I know how it really works, but that’s not what matters. What matters is how the world sees it. How you’ll be judged.”

“I’ve made my peace with it.”

“Have you? So you’re willing to just take the blame. Why? Is this some kind of atonement for your mistakes? For leaving him behind? For our sons? What is it, Nathan? I can’t…”

“Stop it, Heidi.”

“No,” she said as she’d begun to cry. “You’re going to hear me. For once, you’re going to hear me.”

Nathan nodded slightly and waited for Heidi to gain her composure back.

“You have never been an easy person to love. You’ve done things… but that doesn’t matter. I loved you, no matter what you did. Because I knew you were a good person. That you were capable of doing good things, no, great things. But this is not… this isn’t right. You have to know that. I can’t believe…”

“I’m doing what has to be done.”

“I’m not finished,” she said through tightly clenched teeth.

Nathan nodded once more.

“What happened to your family, to our family, isn’t your fault.”

“They left him to die,” he said quietly. “And I left our…”

Nathan let out a breath of air as he rubbed his hand across his forehead.

“I left them too,” Heidi said in an equally hushed tone. “I’m just as…”

“I was supposed to protect them. I was supposed to protect him. That was my job. Now my job is to ensure that nothing like that ever happens again. This is the only way.”

“You’re wrong.”

“I might be,” Nathan admitted. “It’s too late now.”

“Don’t you think you owe them something?” Heidi asked. “They’re as much victims…”

Nathan only shook his head, refusing to answer further.

“What if she’s telling the truth about Peter?” Heidi said quietly.

Nathan didn’t answer that question, and he couldn’t stop asking it either.

****

Jenny had kept away longer than usual this time. She wanted to keep him guessing, to keep him on edge. She still hadn’t gotten the information she needed out of him yet but was certain he was close to giving in now.

The last time she’d left him he’d been in pretty bad shape. It was lucky he didn’t have much longer to live; at this rate he’d be lucky to make it even that long.

But that didn’t stop her.

That wouldn’t stop her from showing back up.

So, when the cell door was opened for her she was surprised. More than surprised, stunned.

Jenny had expected to find Matt where she’d left him, huddled on his cot, but that wasn’t the case.

Matt was waiting for her, standing in the middle of the room and actually waiting for her.

“I heard you coming,” he said as soon as the door was shut on the two of them.

“How?” she just managed to ask as she took in his appearance; the fact that he no longer had a bruise or cut or scrap on him anywhere that she could see.

“I guess I heal fast,” Matt answered.

“That’s not possible,” she breathed.

“Well, maybe you’re imagining things then.”

Jenny shook her head and frowned.

_‘It doesn’t matter,’_ she thought.

“I think you’re going to find it does,” Matt said.

Jenny didn’t answer, cleared her head, and tried to get inside his.

Tried and failed.

“It’s not as much fun when I can fight back, is it?” Matt said, sensing her frustration.

“I’m not worried,” Jenny said with false confidence.

Matt only smiled.

Jenny tried again, pushing harder this time as she tried to get at his memories for something to use. She couldn’t make it work if she didn’t connect. She had to have something but he just wasn’t budging. Jenny didn’t know how he was keeping her out, only that he was.

After three more failed attempts her head was starting to hurt. It was dull ache and Jenny knew that she couldn’t keep this up.

“Fine,” she practically spat at him. “That’s fine. I don’t need… There are other people here I can practice on. Other people to ask.”

For the split second he dropped his guard, worried who she might mean, and she got the jump on him.

She got an image, but she didn’t use it.

Instead she gave him a funny look.

“Why her? Do you…”

_‘He knows she’s here.’_

“Who told you?” she asked loudly. “You weren’t supposed to know that. How did you find out?”

“I’m not telling you anything.”

“You will or I’ll go over there right now and…”

“You can’t,” Matt said, cutting her off. “I know you can’t. You’re not allowed to. Only me. I’m the only one they’ll…”

“They’ll let me at your girlfriend.”

Matt stopped talking.

“I’ll have them drag her into a room and by the time I’m done she’ll want to kill you herself.”

“She won’t…”

“I’ll make her believe it.”

Matt shook his head, but knew she was right. Jenny would do it. She’d do it or kill Audrey trying.

“What do you want?” Matt asked.

“Tell me how you knew Claire Bennet was here?”

“I read it off one of the guards,” Matt lied.

“Who?”

“I don’t know his name, they don’t…”

“Just like you don’t know the name of the man who helped you escape that detention center?” Jenny shot back accusingly. “I don’t believe that.”

“Alright,” Matt relented. “I saw her. I saw them put her in the cell across the hall.”

It wasn’t a lie. Matt did watch as they’d locked Claire up. Only, it was after she’d been let in to see him.

Jenny seemed satisfied with that answer. Momentarily.

“And?” she asked.

“And what?”

“The name. The name I’ve been asking for. What is it?”

“I told you I don’t…”

“Fine,” Jenny said curtly, turning towards the door. “I’ll give Audrey your best.”

Matt clenched his jaw, hating himself for what he was about to do.

“Henry Jacobs,” he said tightly.

Jenny turned back around with a smile on her face.

“What do you know about him?” she asked. “What’s he do?”

“I’m not…”

“And I’m not playing,” Jenny interrupted.

“I can’t tell you much,” Matt sighed. “I really don’t know him that well.”

“That’s alright,” she assured him. “I’m sure there’s plenty we can think of to talk about.”


	29. Security

Walking out of New York wasn’t an easy thing.

It took them most of the night just to do that and a good part of the next day to find a functioning car to drive them south.

Of course they had plenty to talk about along the way.

Peter bombarded Ando and Niki with hundreds of questions about the past few years, about how they’d been and what they’d been doing, about everything; everything but that day.

“What about you, Peter?” Ando asked as they finally were on their way. “Where have you been all this time?”

“I’m not sure what you…”

“We know you’ve been at the colony for the past year,” Niki interrupted, her eyes on the road. “But before then? Do you remember any of it?”

“No,” he said with a slight shake of his head. “I mean, I remember being in the city, mostly the park, but…”

“So two whole years?” Niki asked sympathetically. “They’re just…”

“Gone,” Peter answered. “I wish I knew, but… it’s hazy. It’s like I was dreaming.”

The three of them drove on in silence for a few more miles. Finally, Peter knew he’d have to begin it; he’d have to be the one to break the ice on what they all really wanted to talk about.

“When they found you...” he started but didn’t quite know how to continue.

“Who?” Niki asked.

“Matt and Claire,” Peter explained. “When they found you that day, why…”

“Do you think we didn’t want to come help you?” Niki asked, actually sounding hurt.

“No, I just… I don’t understand why…”

“They didn’t find us,” Ando answered. “Matt and Claire. Not that day. We thought… we thought they’d died as well. For almost a year we didn’t see or hear anything from them.”

“Claire had mentioned that they’d been together, looking for the rest of you, but I had no idea... I didn’t know she meant that long. I kind of assumed…”

“It was awful,” Niki jumped in. “We thought we’d never see you or them again. It took D.L., Micah and me a few weeks to catch up with Ando and Hiro, Isaac and Simone. We caught them at the tunnel, just before we left. Best luck we ever had.”

“Wait,” Peter said quickly as it dawned on him; as he remembered. “Simone? Where are Simone and Isaac? Why aren’t they with you now? What…”

The look Niki and Ando exchanged wasn’t lost on him.

“Did they…”

Peter couldn’t even finish the question.

“Simone cut a deal,” Niki said flatly. “I guess she was tired of living… living how we had to live. She made a deal with the Order about a year ago. She told them where to pick us up, all of us but they really wanted Claire; in exchange she and Isaac were supposed to be let free.”

“What happened?” Peter asked frantically.

“We got about three minutes warning is what happened,” Niki said in a much harsher voice. “Three minutes before it was supposed to happen Matt heard her thinking about it; worrying about it. She’d been watching the clock, watching the door. He must have just caught her at the right time, we never expected… As soon as we knew we scrambled. They arrived before we were ready and Isaac was shot. It was quick there wasn’t anything we could do for him.”

“And Simone?” Peter asked tentatively, unable to wrap his head around the situation; around how things could go so badly so quickly.

“She panicked,” Niki said in that same dead tone. “She froze and they took her in. That’s the last we saw of her. Audrey said she was locked up. I don’t know. I don’t really care.”

“Peter,” Ando said, much kinder. “I’m sorry you had to hear…”

He only shook his head, shook off the response.

What had happened between him and Simone was brief and nearly over before that day when his memory stopped. He’d cared for her, really cared for her, but she must have changed. He couldn’t imagine the woman he’d once loved turning in her friends like that. Trading them all for what? False security. No. No, he’d rather not think about it.

“How much further?” he asked instead.

Niki sighed before answering.

“We’ll probably be there before midnight.”

“Then what?”

“We go to our safe house,” Ando answered. “We have one set up there so that we could meet with Mohinder or Audrey when we had to. I’ve been a few times; I know the best way to go so that we attract the least amount of attention.”

“And what’s next? I mean, how exactly are we going to get inside?”

“I’m sure D.L. already has a plan in place,” Niki said reassuringly.

Peter nodded but didn’t look convinced.

“Look,” Niki said much more lightly. “We’ve got a guy who can walk through walls, one who can burn through them and one more who can stop time. It’s going to be cake.”

****

“He just told you?”

“Yes, sir,” Jenny answered with a self-satisfied smile. “Henry Jacobs. I did some research and he was on the original list. From what Parkman told me he can super heat the air around him, direct it even. It’s how he was able to escape. Apparently he burned a hole right through the wall.”

“Interesting,” Nathan replied. “Do we know any more about him?”

“Not much I’m afraid. Most of the records…”

“Doesn’t matter,” Nathan interrupted. “We’ve got his photo from the detention center. That’s all we need.”

“So do you think…” Jenny started to ask but one look from Nathan stopped her immediately.

She wasn’t allowed to ask questions.

“Good job,” he said instead, rising from his seat.

Jenny got to hers as well when the door opened.

“Sir,” Sullivan, Nathan’s assistant, said quietly. “You have a guest.”

“I told you I’m not…”

“Sir, it’s Mr. Davies.”

Any other time and Sullivan would not have dared to interrupt his boss, but this was important. He knew Mr. Davies was too important to waste time arguing.

Nathan did too.

“Send him in,” he said, smoothing down the front of his jacket and tie.

“Should I go?” Jenny asked nervously.

“No. Stay. You might be useful.”

Jenny nodded and couldn’t believe it. She was certain Nathan would have hurried her out. It was incredibly lucky. Mr. Davies, she knew, was the main representative from the Republic. This was her chance to meet someone really important.

“Right this way, Mr. Davies,” they heard Sullivan say as he opened the door.

Mr. Davies was a tall man with light hair and eyes, probably no older than Nathan. As far as Nathan knew, he had no first name. It was always just Mr. Davies.

“You’re early,” Nathan said with a smile as he shook the man’s hand. “We didn’t expect you until tomorrow.”

“I like to keep you on your toes,” he returned without a trace of humor.

Nathan continued to smile, but it wasn’t easy. He motioned to Sullivan who quickly left, closing the door behind him.

“This is Ms. Yi,” Nathan said, gesturing to Jenny. “She’s our newest lead investigator.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” Jenny said, with a much more genuine smile than Nathan had offered, shaking his hand as well.

“For me as well.”

“Have a seat?” Nathan asked.

Davies complied, sitting in the seat Nathan had just recently occupied, leaving the other two to sit opposite him.

“How was your flight?” Nathan asked.

“Excellent.”

“So…”

“Where is she being held?” Davies asked, cutting right to the chase.

“In our most secure facility.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“Well,” Nathan began, “believe me that this time…”

“And you’re certain it’s her?”

“Positive,” Nathan said a bit curtly.

“Good,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’d like to meet her.”

“Are you sure that’s such a…”

“Ms. Yi,” Davies said, completely ignoring Nathan, “would you care to accompany me?”

“Of course,” Jenny answered, immediately rising to go. “I’d be happy to.”

Nathan watched and worried as the two of them left his office; there wasn’t anything he could do to stop them.

Jenny could hardly keep the smile off her face as she walked down the corridor with Mr. Davies. 

A week ago and she’d have been hiding from him, terrified, now she understood what power was; that power, powerful men like Mr. Davies, weren’t to be feared, they were to be learned from. The closer she kept to him, to Nathan Petrelli, the better.

“So Ms. Yi,” he asked casually, “do you enjoy your work?”

“Extremely.”

“And how long have you been heading up the, um, investigations?”

“A few days now,” she admitted. “But I’ve been on the investigation teams for nearly a year.”

“And it doesn’t bother you?”

“It only bothers me when we don’t find what we’re looking for.”

“I see,” he said quietly.

“This is the block Claire Bennet is being kept in,” Jenny said as they entered the wing.

“Is Matthew Parkman here as well?”

“Yes.”

“And what do you think should be done with him?” Davies asked as they neared the cell. “What would you do if you were in charge of the situation?”

Jenny paused, considering it. Knowing it was a loaded question. Mr. Petrelli obviously wanted him dead, but she knew that members of the Board thought he was overlooking a golden opportunity to turn Parkman over to Primatech as well.

Davies was essentially asking her to choose sides.

Jenny didn’t hesitate long.

“I’d hand him over to you,” Jenny returned smoothly. “His powers aren’t that strong, but I’m sure you and your colleagues would make the most of them.”

“Any reason why you think Mr. Petrelli is not doing that?”

“Yes, sir. He’s made it personal. He’s putting his needs above the needs of the Order.”

Davies smiled.

“So,” he continued, motioning to the door. “What is it you do exactly?”

Jenny looked at the door, concentrated for a moment on the woman on the other side and came up with an image nearly crystal clear.

“Would you like a demonstration?”

****

Despite the thickness of the walls Matt heard her. Matt heard Claire yelling, no screaming for help from across the hallway. Screaming in his head.

It was awful.

Matt jumped up and ran to the door, desperate to find out what was going on.

Looking out the security glass in his door he spotted a man he didn’t recognize in front of Claire’s door, watching whatever was taking place with some sort of sick satisfaction.

Matt pounded on the door as hard as he could with both fists. It was the only thing he could do. Claire was so loud in his head he could hardly concentrate, he could hardly stand upright.

The man, for his part, ignored him entirely, except for one fleeting glance, smile firmly in place.

It only made him madder, made him beat harder on the door, made him completely unable to block out the excess noise and do something.

Panic. It was sheer panic. Matt knew it, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Nothing.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, it ended.

Claire had stopped and Matt was even more terrified by the end then he had been by the beginning.

Matt watched the door intently, waiting for her to come out. Knowing who would come out. Who it had to be.

When the door did finally open, he wasn’t disappointed.

It was Jenny.

He watched as the two exchanged a few words, smiled and laughed, before heading down the hall again.

Matt knew she’d seen him. She’d seen him watching. She had to have known he would.

As they passed his cell she turned ever so slightly, just meeting his eyes, and winked.

Matt didn’t know how to hate her enough.

****

“Very impressive,” Mr. Davies said as soon as they were out of the block and heading back towards the main wing.

“Thank you.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t gone further in the Order.”

“I certainly aspire…”

“But I wonder if you’re really cut out for it. For the type of work it takes to succeed.”

Jenny looked momentarily frightened, but quickly recovered.

“I’d be willing to do whatever it takes,” she said firmly. “I assure you of that.”

“And your loyalty?”

“Is entirely yours.”

Mr. Davies raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

“Your organization,” Jenny explained, “is what ensures our survival. And as long as the Order survives, I do too.”

“So your real loyalty is to yourself.”

“Whose isn’t?” Jenny asked.

He paused as if considering her statement.

“However,” she continued, “I know what is and isn’t possible. That if I want security I have to earn it. I’m willing to earn it.”

“I have a job for you,” he finally said. “A very important job.”

“I’d be happy to assist you in any way I can.”

“Good,” he said with a smile. “And I guarantee that if you succeed at this, you’ll never have to worry about your security again.”


	30. Going

“We’re here.”

Peter awoke with a start.

“You okay?” Niki asked, giving him a probing look.

“Yeah,” he said, trying to shake the uneasy feeling that had begun to well up inside him. “Fine.”

“You don’t look it,” Niki said.

“I just… I had…”

“Another dream?” Ando asked expectantly.

“Was it about Claire?” Niki asked just as eagerly.

“No,” Peter said, trying to catch the image in his mind. “It was… It was Nathan. Nathan… he was worried or troubled by… I’m not sure.”

Niki gave him a short nod.

“Let’s talk about it inside,” Ando said quickly. “We shouldn’t stay on the street too long.”

“It’s nothing,” Peter said dismissively as he got out of the car. “It’ll pass, I’m sure it will.”

The three of them gathered up their things and headed for the front door only to be met by Micah.

“What’s going on?” he asked from the doorway.

“I should ask you that,” Niki returned. “What are you doing just standing…”

“I saw you on the monitor,” Micah interrupted as they all moved inside.

“You should have waited.”

“Okay, yes,” Micah gave in. “I should have. Now what’s going on?”

“Where’s your father?” Niki asked, hugging him to her.

“They left half an hour ago to bring back Matt, Audrey and Mohinder.”

“I thought we’d get here before they left” Niki said, shaking her head.

“What is it?”

“They captured Claire,” Ando finally answered. “Last night.”

Micah stared at them for a moment, absorbing the news before finally jumping back onto his laptop.

“I never checked,” he muttered.

“Never checked?” Peter repeated, coming to stand over his shoulder.

“No,” Micah answered. “I just… I assumed. There were three cells occupied, but that doesn’t mean… Good. Good. They’re all… they’re all still in the same place. They’re all in the same block. It’s going to be fine.”

“What are you talking about?” Niki asked as she and Ando joined them.

“When I accessed this block I assumed because there were three cells in use that it was just the three of them, but the files show four prisoners so they’ve got two of them in one cell. That’s all.”

“Which two?” Ando asked.

“I’m not sure that matters,” Niki returned. “Not if they bring them all back.”

“They’ve got a radio with them,” Micah said. “We can let them know about Claire and it will be set.”

“I’ll do it,” Peter said, wanting to be doing something; anything to keep his nerves in check. His stomach felt oddly unsettled.

“Oh,” Micah said as Peter picked up the receiver, “you won’t be able…”

But as soon as Peter had it in hand, pressed the call button, they were connected.

“What’s up son?” came a voice over the radio crystal clear.

“D.L. it’s Peter. Niki, Ando and I are at the house. You’ve got four to pick up, not three. They’ve got Claire too.”

“Peter?” was the stunned reply.

“Did you copy that?” Peter asked instead.

“Yeah, I copy.”

“How long do you think it will be?”

There was a short pause.

“We’re in position now. Give us an hour. Hour and a half tops.”

“Alright. Out on this end.”

“Copy that. Out.”

Peter turned around to find three very surprised faces.

“What?”

“How’d you do that?” Micah asked. “Did you remember? You do, right? You remember who you are.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, unable to keep a small smile from escaping.

“That’s great,” Micah exclaimed. “So you can use your powers now. Peter, that’s…”

“No I can’t. I mean, I don’t…”

“But you just did,” Micah objected.

“I only used the radio.”

“Peter, no one but Micah can use this stuff,” Niki informed him.

Peter shrugged them off, not quite believing it.

“So now what?” Ando asked, eager to help deflect the attention off of Peter for the moment. “Do we wait?”

“I think that’s all we can do,” Niki answered. “If they need help, they’ll call us.”

Peter nodded in agreement, but in the back of his head he couldn’t shake that feeling of unease.

He hoped it was just his nerves.

****

“Ready?” D.L. asked the two other men with him.

“As ready as we’re going to get,” Jacobs answered.

“We’re certain this is the spot?” Hiro asked.

D.L. paused to consider it.

They had to be certain; there would be no second chances.

They’d gained access to the basement through the sewer system, bringing with them the only real equipment they’d need – a collapsible ladder. Jacobs had made quick work of connecting the two, with Hiro stopping time to ensure they weren’t heard. That was the basics for their rescue operation as well. Once underneath the cells, Hiro would do his thing again and then it would be D.L.’s turn.

Still, they had to be quick.

Once the holes were dug and time was back in motion, they’d have to quickly get Matt, Audrey, Mohinder and Claire out, this time without Hiro’s help.

Hiro couldn’t stop time for so many of them.

D.L. didn’t think he’d need to.

“Stop it for me and let me check,” D.L. said.

In a blink, Hiro did.

D.L., from his spot on the ladder, merely pulled himself up through the ceiling above him.

A quick look around confirmed it.

“Okay,” he said, moving back down to talk to Hiro once more. “Audrey and Mohinder are in this one.”

Hiro unfroze time again and gave him a nod.

“We’ll probably come back through over there,” D.L. said pointing to a blank spot on the floor a few feet away. “Jacobs?”

“I’ve got the door,” he told him. “If anyone comes this way, well, they’ll wish they hadn’t.”

“And I’ve got the ladder,” Hiro said with a small smile. “You know, so, don’t land here.”

D.L. smiled back and gave him a small smile.

“As soon as I’m back down…”

“I’ll freeze us again,” Hiro finished for him. “We’ll move right to the next one. No delay.”

D.L. nod once more, took in a breath and pulled himself up through the floor for a second time.

Mohinder was asleep in his cot, but Audrey was wide awake. Wide awake and nearly so surprised to see D.L. pop up out of the floor that she’d almost screamed.

“What…”

D.L. put a hand over his lips and she nodded in return.

“Get him up,” he said quietly.

Audrey moved quickly to where Mohinder slept and gently shook his arm.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, rubbing his eyes a few time.

“Our ride’s here,” she said with an odd gleam in her eyes.

“Our…” Mohinder started to say, but stopped, overcome with a smile when he saw D.L. in the room with them.

“Thank God,” Mohinder said quietly, getting up and hugging the man. “What took you so long?”

“It’s a long drive,” D.L. said. “I’ll tell you about it later. We’ve got friends waiting for us downstairs.”

Audrey and Mohinder nodded.

“It’s going to be a long drop,” D.L. warned them. “Keep your knees bent and roll with it.”

Audrey shut her eyes and let out a breath.

“Ready?” D.L. asked, taking each of them by the hand.

“Yes,” Mohinder said with a nod.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Audrey answered.

“Alright.”

D.L. could only phase two people at a time. He was working on more however right now that was his limit. It took a little extra concentration, but it wasn’t that difficult. All he had to do was think it. And he did. He thought it and the three of them melted slowly into the floor.

They landed rather well and D.L. felt that familiar hitch he came to associate with Hiro’s power.

“Too soon?” Hiro asked.

D.L. stood and dusted himself off, leaving the other two frozen on the floor; Jacobs unmoving at the door.

“No, that was perfect,” D.L. answered, already moving the ladder to the next spot they’d marked off ahead of time.

He quickly climbed the ladder and checked the cell just to be certain.

“We’re good,” he told Hiro and time lurched forward once more.

D.L. made it into Matt’s cell with relative ease. Matt was also awake, but didn’t seem either surprised or startled by D.L.’s arrival.

“I thought you’d get me last,” he said, coming over and even helping D.L. through the floor.

“You heard us down there?” D.L. asked with a smile.

“You are all incredibly loud thinkers,” Matt said, so genuinely happy to see him that if he didn’t joke about it he thought he might break down completely.

“Seriously?”

“No,” Matt answered. “I heard Audrey.”

“Of course you did.”

Matt continued to smile as if he had to.

“Well, let’s not keep you from her then,” D.L. said, grabbing Matt by the elbow.

“I hate this part,” Matt sighed.

D.L. only chuckled as they slid through the floor.

Once again, perfectly timed, Hiro stopped time just as D.L. hit the floor.

“One more,” D.L. said to him with a smile.

“I’ll be glad when we’re out of here,” Hiro sighed.

“Well, we almost are,” D.L. returned, moving the ladder to the last spot needed.

After D.L. made sure it was really Claire above him, Hiro set the world back in motion and D.L. made his last trip up.

“Claire,” he whispered, seeing her sleeping on the cot across the room. “Sweetie, time to go.”

Claire shot up and looked at D.L. as if she’d never seen him before.

“No,” she said shaking her head slightly. “No, stop it. Get out. Get out of here.”

“Claire, what’s wrong?” D.L. asked, really concerned at her sudden agitated state. “We’re here to take you home. Everything is going to be…”

“No. No, I don’t believe you. Stop. Stop.”

D.L. had only a second to consider it. The block was too quiet and Claire was making way too much noise. Any minute now a guard could show up to check on her. He had to act fast.

“I’m sorry about this,” D.L. said, striding over to her.

“What are you doing?” Claire asked frantically. “What…”

D.L. took her by the arm, pulled her to her feet, and sank into the floor with her still struggling and yelling at him.

As soon as they hit the floor, Claire’s hysterics got worse. She was so completely confused.

“What happened?” Hiro asked.

“Claire?” Matt said, moving to her side. “It’s alright. None of that… I’m sorry I couldn’t help you. It wasn’t real. None of it was. Whatever she showed you…”

“We need to move,” D.L. said sternly.

Jacobs came down the steps and joined them.

“Is she alright?” he asked.

“Was it that woman?” Mohinder asked.

“Guys,” D.L. repeated. “We can talk later. I think they heard us. They check those cells and it won’t be long before they check the building. Come on.”

“I’m alright,” Claire said, her hands still shaking. “I thought you were… but, she couldn’t have done all this… This is real? This is…”

“Yes,” Matt nodded. “This is real. We’re getting out of here.”

“Okay,” Claire said with a short nod.

“I’m sorry I scared you,” D.L. said sincerely, “but I had to get you out of there.”

“No,” she returned, her eyes still a bit wide and panicked, “I understand. Thank you. I couldn’t stay…”

“You don’t have to stay here any longer,” D.L. assured her. “Let’s go.”

“This way,” Hiro said, motioning them all towards the tunnel in the back of the room.

They’d almost made it when the room was suddenly bathed in light.

“Stop right there,” a man’s voice called out loudly from the top of the stairs. “That’s not the way you’re going.”


	31. Nerves

Nathan sat alone in his office.

How had it come to this?

It was all caving in around him, and he knew it. He knew Heidi was right. Knew what they were setting him up for. And he also knew that his time, his usefulness, was coming to an end.

Primatech wanted Parkman and he couldn’t let it go.

Claire said Peter was alive and he wanted to believe it almost as much as he wanted not to believe it.

Davies was looking to replace him.

How had it come to this?

What could he do now to stop it?

Nathan knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to get Heidi and just get away. He wanted to go down and ask her again, ask Claire if it was true.

Claire Bennet wasn’t a liar. She had never lied to him, not once. And if he was being honest with himself, Matt Parkman wasn’t a liar either.

And it was Matt’s wife Janice who had died watching, maybe even protecting his sons.

Nathan had been the last to arrive, a year later at his former home in New York, and discover the note; the apology. It was a survey mission for the Order, but all he wanted was information about his family. 

He’d never fooled himself into believing they had survived, that anyone in New York had survived, but seeing it and knowing it was a lot harsher than imagining it ever could be.

And that note, the note originated by D.L. full of apologies and directions should anyone else have made it, sealed it all for Nathan.

They were all there, all their names one after another, signed and dated, all except those who hadn’t made it. Janice, Monty and Simon had been dead by the time the first group had arrived; had been buried by the time the note was finished.

Claire and Matt had been there last. Had been there much later than anyone else and had added nothing about Peter’s fate.

Nathan couldn’t forgive them for that, for not at least writing something. Anything. A word, a line, just to let him know.

That’s when he started blaming them. From that point on, it was easier to blame them.

“Sir,” Sullivan said, rousing him from his thoughts.

“What is it?”

“You have that meeting with the Board in ten minutes.”

“I’m on my way,” Nathan said, standing to go.

“Also,” Sullivan said, pausing momentarily. “We’ve had word that a few of the outer alarms have been tripped. That there may be…”

“What alarms? Where? Near the cell blocks?”

“About half a mile…”

“Get Franco on the line,” Nathan barked. “Tell him to keep his eyes open.”

“Right…”

“No wait,” Nathan said, suddenly decided. “I’ll go myself. I have a visit to pay on the block anyway. I’ll let him know.”

“But your meeting.”

“Tell them I’ll be late.”

****

“Peter,” Niki said. “No offense or anything, but could you please sit down. The pacing is making me nervous.”

“I can’t help it,” Peter said, throwing his hands up in air as he continued to walk around the room.

“They’ll be fine,” Ando said.

“D.L. said it would only take an hour,” Peter returned.

“It was a guess,” Niki answered.

“Something is just… it’s wrong,” Peter said, nervous without reason.

“Are you sure it’s them?” Micah asked tentatively. “I mean, couldn’t it be…”

“What?”

“Well,” Micah continued. “Couldn’t it be Nathan?”

“Why would I…”

“Because you’re an empath,” Micah explained. “You’ve always had a strong connection with him and this is the first time you’ve been so close… Maybe you’re just picking up on his feelings or something.”

“Why would he be nervous?” Peter questioned no one in particular. “I feel like I’m going to be sick or something. It’s… you don’t think he’s in trouble, do you?”

Niki refrained herself from saying that ‘she didn’t care’, but just barely.

And then in washed over him, really hit him. Something bad was either about to happen or already had. It was an unmistakable sense of dread; of terror.

“I’ve got to go,” Peter said quietly.

“Go where?” Ando asked.

“Just,” Peter said, turning to them all, “just stay here. I’ll be back but I have to go and see…”

“Peter, don’t be stupid,” Niki said, jumping to her feet. “What are you going to do, walk in the front door?”

“I can’t sit here and do nothing.”

“You don’t even know what’s happened,” she tried reasoning. “If anything has happened.”

“I hope it hasn’t, not yet… but I have to try.”

“It’s suicide,” Niki said disbelieving. “I know you love him, that he’s your brother, but he’s changed Peter. He’s not the same man you remember him as. He’s…”

“But he’s still my brother,” Peter said as if that decided it. 

And it did for him. Nathan was still Nathan no matter what and if he needed Peter’s help, Peter was going to give it to him.

“I don’t expect you to come with me.”

“Good,” Niki shot back.

“Just…”

“We’ll wait,” Ando said quickly. “We’ll wait until tomorrow for you.”

“Thanks,” Peter said with a nod.

“Don’t do it, Peter,” Niki said. “Don’t go.”

“I have to.”

****

“What is it?” Heidi practically sighed, her back still to him. She had seen him through the mirror, seen him enter the room. “What more can you possibly…”

“To talk,” he said calmly as he approached her, making eye contact with her reflection. “I just wanted to talk.”

“There’s nothing left to say, Nathan,” she returned, looking down at her hands. “You’ve said it all.”

When he didn’t immediately respond, she looked up again; back into the mirror and was surprised by the look on his face.

He actually looked remorseful.

“Nathan,” she started, not even knowing what to say. Never finishing.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

He’d said it, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, just that fast.

“Oh,” Jenny breathed out, “I’m so sorry.”

She hadn’t looked as she’d done it. Hadn’t kept her eyes open as she’d pulled the trigger, but she knew she had to. She had to look if just to ensure it was done. That it was real.

Jenny had to look so that the next time she’d know what to expect.

Taking one last deep breath, she opened her eyes and nearly gagged at the sight.

Heidi Petrelli was definitely dead. No one could have survived that.

Her hands shaking, Jenny turned and took a few steps away from the body. Away from what she’d done. Still reeling…

There was no time for this. Jenny had things to do. Commitments to fulfill. She just had to remind herself that it had to be done. That she was only doing what was best, best for herself.

The first time was always bad. The next time would be easier. The next time couldn’t be as bad as this.

Jenny needed to remember that.

Bracing herself, she went for the door and was surprised when it opened before she reached it.

Sullivan.

“I thought I heard…” he started to say, but froze when he saw Jenny with a gun in her hand.

His eyes darted quickly from her to Mrs. Petrelli and back again. Fearfully.

“I’m… I…”

“Clean this up,” Jenny ordered, remembering her job and her position. Her new position. “Now. And not a word to anyone. Is that understood?”

“I…” he stuttered, unable to move.

“Sullivan,” Jenny said stepping closer to him and lowering her voice. “Things are changing around here. Do you get my meaning?”

“Yes,” he answered with a short nod. “Yes…I’ll… I’ll take…”

“Good,” she said shortly, breezing past him and back out into the main corridor.

Once the door was shut behind her, she shuddered. Her whole body shuddered and she couldn’t control it. Momentarily, she gave into it.

She’d killed someone.

It felt unreal.

It felt…

Jenny straightened up, pushed the thoughts aside. There was no time for this. She had a strict schedule to keep. A meeting to attend. A man to replace.

One down, five to go.


	32. Positive

“That’s not the way you’re going,” the man said loudly. “It’s not safe. They’ve already got men stationed outside.”

Matt tentatively stepped forward to get a better look at whoever it was speaking. Shocked to find it was the main guard, a man whose name he didn’t even know.

“Why are you…” Matt started to ask.

“It’s not important why,” he returned. “What is important is that you get out of here. Now. I’ll take you as far as I can, the rest will be up to you.”

No one moved. No one knew what to do. If they should believe him or not. Either way was risky.

“Why should we believe you?” D.L. finally asked.

“Because I could have turned you all in hours ago and I didn’t,” the man returned. “I’ve been watching you all night.”

“Watching us how?” Matt asked.

“How?” he said, an almost laugh. “How do you read people’s minds? How did that man move through the floor? How did that woman heal you? I saw you. I saw all of it. That’s why I’m down here, so they don’t need surveillance. I am the surveillance.”

“Heal?” D.L. said quietly, casting a quick glance in Claire’s direction.

“That doesn’t explain why you’re helping us?” Audrey asked, knowing time was running out.

“I am, alright. I just am,” he said, obviously feeling the pressure as well. “But it has to be now. We have to go…”

“Is that you Franco?” Jacobs asked, stepping forward now to get a better look as well.

“Yes,” the man answered frantically. “Are you coming or…”

“He’s good,” Jacobs interrupted. “Jon Franco. He works for us.”

“Sorry,” Matt said, “but what?”

“The colony,” Jacobs explained as he headed up the stairs. “He’s here on assignment.”

“Okay,” Claire said shaking her head, “that doesn’t exactly fill me with a lot of confidence. No offense.”

“Trust me,” Jacobs said, shaking the man’s hand. “Franco is a good guy. He gets people out of here all the time.”

Matt and D.L. exchanged a quick glance, no words, and it was decided.

“Let’s go,” D.L. sighed, heading up the stairs after Jacobs.

“Seriously?” Claire asked, grabbing Matt by the arm. “We’re seriously…”

“It’s our only option,” Matt returned.

“I don’t…”

“Neither do I,” Matt finished. “And we won’t. I promise.”

Claire nodded, still uneasy, but momentarily reassured by his confidence.

Matt looked at Audrey who gave him a brief smile, ready to follow him as well.

He hoped he was mistaken again.

The group made their way up the stairs and to the waiting guard who finally had a name; Jon Franco.

“Is that why you never told me?” Matt asked. “You thought I might…”

“I knew enough about how you’d gotten away to suspect Jacobs was involved, so yeah,” Franco answered. “I couldn’t be sure he didn’t tell you about me, so I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk saying anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Matt said with a nod. “And Jacobs, when we get out of here, I’m going to owe you a very long apology.”

“Me?” the man said oddly surprised.

Matt nodded tightly.

“Are we ready?” Franco asked.

They were.

“Stick close to me,” he advised. “I’m going to lead you out to the main corridor. It’ll be empty this time of night. I’ve got my men out of the way, so it will be a straight shot. From there, from where I leave you, it’s just out the main door and onto the lawn. Jacobs can get you through the fence.”

“Got it,” D.L. said.

The walk through the hallways was just as event free as Franco had promised, but still incredibly tense. When they reached the designated area, he stopped.

“You’re on your own from here,” he said. “Good luck.”

“Come with us,” Jacobs urged. “They may…”

“No, this is where I need to be. It’s where I can help the most,” Franco said quickly.

“You’re positive?”

Franco gave him a slight nod and a smile.

“Have a safe journey,” he said, and then headed back the way he’d came.

“Let’s go,” Hiro urged, hating being so out in the open as they now seemed to be.

“Yes,” Mohinder seconded. “There are too many of us. We need…”

“Is that Peter?” Claire interrupted him, looking across the atrium at the hallway just opposite them. “Is that…”

“It can’t be,” Matt said automatically.

“No, it is,” Claire argued. “Where is he going? We’ve got to…”

“We’ve got leave,” D.L. said.

“Not without him,” Claire said quickly. “I’m not leaving anyone behind again. Ever. I’m not.”

She looked up to Matt for support and he didn’t know what to tell her.

D.L. had explained it all to them, had relayed the fact that Peter, Niki and Ando were supposed to be at the safe house. The betrayal of the colony. Peter getting his memory back. It was a lot to take in.

“Matt?” Audrey said expectantly.

_‘What are you doing? You can’t seriously be thinking…’_

“Claire’s right,” he said finally. “If Peter is…”

“No,” Audrey interrupted.

“No arguing,” Hiro admonished. “We don’t have time for arguing.”

“Claire and I will go,” Matt said. “I think we owe… We owe him that much. Just to check. To bring him back this time.”

Audrey shook her head in disbelief.

“I’ll go too,” D.L. said. “Hiro and Jacobs can get you both out of here.”

“Why don’t we all…” Mohinder started to suggest.

“Because Hiro can only freeze time for three people and I can only phase for two,” D.L. quickly countered. “This way is safer. And we’re wasting time. Get going. We’ll be right behind you.”

Audrey continued to stare at Matt.

_‘You’d better come back.’_

Matt nodded at her, letting her know he’s heard. That he planned on it. And then, not really caring that everyone was watching the exchange pulled her to him and gave her a brief but fierce kiss.

“Ready?” Hiro asked, as soon as they’d moved apart.

Audrey just nodded and in a blink the four of them were gone, Hiro having done his job once more.

“Which way?”

****

Nathan met Jon Franco, his head guard, in the hallway just outside the main block.

“What’s going on down here?” 

“Nothing as far as I’m aware, sir.”

“Are you coming from the block?” Nathan asked, suspicious as to why the man wasn’t at his station.

“No, sir,” he answered immediately. “I’m coming from the mess hall. Everything has been quiet so I took a late dinner.”

Nathan nodded and together they moved onto the block.

“I’ve been told that some outer perimeter alarms were tripped,” Nathan said as they headed to the duty guard’s desk.

“Yes, sir. We noted the time and I sent four men out to ensure everything was secure.”

“And was it?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary was found but I had two men stay behind just in case. They are sending back reports every fifteen minutes.”

“Good,” Nathan said, pausing to consider it; if he really should talk to Claire.

“Is there anything else you need?” Franco asked.

“No,” Nathan decided. “That’s all.”

“Goodnight, sir.”

Nathan nodded briefly, turning to go.

Talking to Claire would be a waste of time anyway. Her fate was decided. Even if Nathan believed her, he couldn’t help her now.

And he had a board meeting to get to.

Nathan hurried down the hallway, taking a few short cuts, to the late night meeting that could only mean trouble. The Board never met this late unless it was bad news.

The receptionist that typically sat outside the conference room was absent, the first sign Nathan had that something was off.

There was always someone at that desk, day or night, but especially if the five members of the Board happened to be meeting. As it was, Nathan was in such a hurry, there was only time for a passing thought, a ‘that’s odd’ expression, as he pushed open the doors to the main room.

“I know I’m late…” he began to say and then froze at the sight.

They were all there, all four of the other Board members, all in their typical seats; all dead.

Nathan took in a shaky breath and knew what this meant.

Quickly leaving the room, Nathan headed straight for his office.

This was bad. This was it. Davies was making his move, replacing the leadership within the Order. Nathan was next. He had to get his things, get Heidi…

Nathan skidded to a sudden halt.

Heidi.

Changing directions, he began to run towards his personal quarters. Towards the rooms he and Heidi shared, already believing it was too late.

To his surprise, Sullivan was standing outside the door looking pale.

“Sir,” he said, his voice was tight. “Don’t go in there.”

“What’s happened? Is she…”

“I’m sorry,” Sullivan said, shaking his head. “I didn’t… I got here just after. I’m sorry.”

“Move aside.”

“Really, you shouldn’t…”

“Move!”

Sullivan reluctantly stepped out of his way. Nathan paused momentarily at the door before finally moving inside.

Nathan was never sure how long he stayed in there, just staring and in shock.

“Who did this?” he asked as he rejoined Sullivan outside the room.

“Jenny Yi.”

“Where is she?” Nathan said through gritted teeth.

“In your office,” Sullivan answered quietly.

Nathan nodded and turned to go, to confront the woman who killed his wife.

“Sir,” Sullivan called out, “are you sure…”

“I’m positive.”


	33. Instinct

Peter wasn’t sure where he was going, he was just following his instincts.

He’d gotten into the building with relative easy and a whole lot of luck, and somehow just knew which turns to make and which hallways to avoid.

It was like he’d been here before.

And well, he probably had. In his dreams. As Nathan.

Stopping just outside a large, oak door, Peter paused and took a deep breath.

The nameplate said ‘Nathan Petrelli’.

This was it.

Peter opened the door with some trepidation, not sure what to expect. Still unsure as to why he was here, but knowing that the answer was inside.

The office was large, with a few chairs and a small couch in front part of the room and a large desk at the back. It had just one other exit, one other way out.

And he wasn’t alone.

“I wasn’t expecting you.”

Peter looked at the woman who was sitting behind the desk and that sensation, that feeling of uneasiness that he’d been experiencing all night, intensified.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“It’s not important,” she said as she stood up.

Peter stared; able to tell even in the dim light that filled the room that the woman was fairly covered in blood.

“I’ve read a lot about you,” she said, moving around the desk; holding a gun. “Peter Petrelli. You’re famous. You’re also supposed to be dead.”

Peter shook his head, something was off. She was doing something to him, trying to do something at least, but it wasn’t working the way she wanted it to. It was as if she was…

“I think we can rectify that error,” she said.

As she lifted the gun the room felt as if it shifted. Peter saw her change, saw her shift from one image to another. He saw it and responded again with his instincts.

She lowered the gun and momentarily covered her eyes.

“Stop it,” she said, clutching the desk for support. “What… this isn’t…”

The room stopped swaying for Peter. 

Everything quickly righted itself and he felt better, stronger. And he could see now. In his mind he could see pictures, pictures he was pulling out of the woman’s head. Images he could use, he could make her see. Family, friends, lovers… it was almost as if they were labeled. Names, ages, feelings; Peter could tell how she felt about each and every one of them. It was incredible.

“Stop it,” she yelled at him again, and this time he knew why.

He was shuffling. 

Peter was randomly changing and shuffling through people she knew, making her see them all, without fixing on any one specific person. The effect was both frightening and nauseating.

It was what she had tried to do to him.

Peter tried to stop, to control whatever power he had borrowed from her, but it wasn’t easy.

Finally, she fought him off.

Peter reeled backwards as she changed. This time it wasn’t random flickering images of people he knew or any of the seesaw feelings he had begun to associate with it; just sheer terror.

“Is this it, Peter? Is this what scares you?”

Peter rubbed his eyes in disbelief. It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be.

“Popular choice,” Claire said. “Is this how you remember her? As a girl? A lot has changed. This isn’t how he sees her. Not at all.”

It was Claire. 

It was Claire, standing in front of him bloodied and in that same red and white cheerleader outfit she’d been in the night Sylar had first attacked. That first night they’d met. All those dreams.

“That was years ago,” Peter said quietly. “I know…”

“You may know, but this is what you remember. This is it. Fear of disappointing her. Letting her down. Letting her die.”

Peter tried to fight it. Tried hard to think about anything other than the image before him. Could almost separate the two from each other, the real from the fake, but it was so convincing.

“Is that what you were? It is, right? A disappointment. To your father, your mother, your brother.”

He shut his eyes tightly and looked down as he tried to close his mind to her. Tried to push her out of his head, but Peter didn’t know how. He didn’t know how to stop her.

“Her too. All of them. They were counting on you and you let them all down. You let it happen.”

She was in his head. He could feel her in there, searching for more information, for more feelings to use and interpret against him.

“Is that why you didn’t want to remember?”

Peter’s head snapped back up at her in surprise.

It was just them again, the fake Claire gone, and the woman had the gun raised at his head, a small smile on her lips.

“You’ll be happier this way,” she said as she went to squeeze the trigger.

It was then that the side door opened.

Nathan had arrived.

Both Peter and Jenny turned and looked at him, surprised by his sudden appearance.

“Peter?” Nathan said, not quite trusting his eyes.

The two men locked eyes and knew it was true; that this was real.

Nathan then turned his attention to Jenny. Jenny who had momentarily lowered the gun. Jenny who gave him a wicked smile as she raised it back up again and pulled the trigger.

He had a split second, less even.

Nathan had a literal blink of the eye to react, and he did, flying across the room and putting himself between his brother and that bullet.

“No!” Peter yelled as the bullet caught Nathan square in the chest sending him falling back into his arms.

Peter slumped to the floor with his brother still in his grasp.

“Two Petrelli’s for the price of one,” Jenny said stepping closer to finish the job.

She stopped, once more interrupted. The main door opened and Matt, D.L. and Claire rushed into the room, drawn by the sound of gunfire.

This time Jenny didn’t hesitate, she just fired off three rapid shots at the new arrivals.

D.L. grabbed Matt and Claire by the shoulders in the nick of time causing the bullets to sail right through and hit the wall behind them.

For the first time, Jenny looked panicked.

“This isn’t over,” she said, gun raised as she backed up towards the door Nathan had entered on the opposite side of the room.

“Let her go,” D.L. said as Matt had begun to pull away from him to follow her.

“Listen to him,” Jenny said, hand on the door and ready to make her escape. “That’s good advice.”

_‘Next time we meet…’_ Matt sent out to her.

Jenny paused and smiled.

“I look forward to it.”

That quick and she was gone.

D.L. and Matt turned their attention back towards Peter and Nathan, Claire already at their side.

“Is he…” D.L. began to ask.

Peter only shook his head.

Nathan hadn’t moved; he was unconscious but still appeared to be breathing, albeit labored.

“He didn’t have to do it,” Peter finally said, choking back a sob. “He didn’t… I could have made it… It wouldn’t have hurt me…”

“Peter,” D.L. said quietly, kneeling down, “we have to go. There’s nothing you can do for him. That woman…”

D.L. stopped talking as alarms began to sound.

“Now, Peter,” D.L. urged. “Now. We have to go.”

“I’m not leaving my brother,” he said firmly. “He’s not…”

“He’s not going to make it,” D.L. tried to reason.

Claire and Matt remained completely silent, watching the exchange.

She turned to him, caught his gaze.

_‘I could do it. I could…’_

_‘Don’t.’_

Claire gave him a startled look in return.

_‘After all he’s done you’re really…’_

She didn’t let him finish.

“Move aside,” she said to D.L., taking his spot beside Peter and Nathan. “I can’t guarantee it will work, but I can try.”

“Try what?” D.L. asked.

Matt just shook his head and turned away, crossing the room and checking the door Jenny had exited. Locking it and beginning to build a small barricade against the door using a few of the chairs.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked her as well.

“Trust me,” was all she said as she shut her eyes and put her hands against Nathan’s chest.

_‘I want him to be alright. I want him to better. I want…’_

It didn’t work.

Claire sat back and stared at him. Nathan was still alive, barely, but he wasn’t getting any better. He wasn’t healing the way Matt had when she’d done the same thing. It wasn’t working.

_‘You don’t want it,’ she heard Matt instruct her. ‘You don’t really want it so it’s not working.’_

Claire sighed and knew he was right.

“Please,” Peter said to her. “Whatever you’re doing, can you try again? Please.”

“And hurry,” D.L. added quietly.

Claire looked into Peter’s eyes, saw how much this meant to him, how much he needed his brother to be alright, and gave him a quick nod.

She shut her eyes, readied herself and started over.

_‘I want him to be better for Peter. I want Nathan to be alright for Peter. I want him to…’_

It took a lot out of her. When Claire leaned back, she swayed on the spot and Matt caught her by the arm just in time.

“Did it work?” she asked, looking up at him.

Matt nodded tightly, helping her to her feet.

Looking down, Claire saw it was true. Nathan was no longer bleeding. He was sitting up again on his own, staring at Claire as if he didn’t believe it. As if he didn’t believe any of it was real.

“Come on,” D.L. said, giving Nathan and Peter a hand up.

“How did you do that?” Nathan asked Claire.

“Later,” D.L. said nervously, “we’ll all talk later. Right now…”

The door nearest them suddenly flew open.

Sullivan.

“Sir,” he said, ignoring everyone that wasn’t Nathan, “you’ve got to get out of here. Now. They’re coming for you. All of you.”

Nathan nodded in a distracted kind of way, unable to focus. Too much was happening. He felt strange. He didn’t really know what to do.

“What’s the quickest way out?” D.L. asked, stepping up to take over the group.

No one else seemed capable at the moment.

“Follow me,” the young man said.

Sullivan led them all through a series of halls, back doors and eventually out into an enclosed courtyard.

To their great surprise Jacobs was waiting near the fence.

“I sent the rest on,” he said, motioning at the hole he had created for their escape. “I thought you might need a little bit of extra help.”

“Sir, are you…” Sullivan began to ask, clearly confused.

“Yes,” Nathan answered, hesitating only slightly. “I’m going with my brother. What about you?”

“Me?”

“Come with us,” Nathan urged.

“But sir, I…”

“And stop calling me, sir,” Nathan barked, patting him on the back and practically pushing him through the fence to the other side.

“Yes, sir.”

Matt hung back till the end, waiting to go last with Jacobs. Claire had gone through after Peter, but only after giving Matt one or two pleading looks.

“Is that who I think it is?” Jacobs asked softly.

“Peter’s brother,” Matt said tightly.

“And I take it you aren’t exactly thrilled,” Jacobs replied.

“We’ll sort it out later.”

“I certainly hope so.”


	34. Family

Getting back to the safe house had not been easy, it taking the better part of an hour.

The streets were littered with militia searching for them.

D.L. took the lead, instructing them when to go and when to be silent, giving directions and taking control.

Matt continued to walk in the very back of the pack, pointedly refusing to look Claire’s way despite her frequent attempts to get his attention.

_‘Don’t be mad at me. Please. I only did…’_

Matt just tuned her out. He tuned them all out.

He didn’t want to be mad at her but couldn’t help it. Claire didn’t seem to understand the problems this was going to cause. What it meant for Nathan to actually be coming with them.

Matt believed in forgiveness, but some things just weren’t forgivable.

Besides that, what had Nathan done to deserve forgiveness in the first place?

Nathan was only sorry now because he’d been wrong about Peter’s death. It didn’t change anything. It didn’t change what he’d done.

When they finally reached the safe house, D.L. paused outside the door.

“Maybe I should go in first and…” he trailed off and Matt just nodded at him.

Warn the others.

D.L. was back five minutes later opening the door for them all.

Five minutes hadn’t been long enough it seemed. The room was equally divided; half looked shocked and half looked angry.

Wisely, Nathan kept his mouth shut and moved as far as he could to the back of the room with Sullivan close behind.

Peter joined them. His posture clear. If anyone had a problem with this they could talk to him.

Claire shuffled off as well, sitting by herself near the window, still clearly torn. She wasn’t used to having Matt’s opinion so strongly set against her own. She’d come to rely on his judgment that it hurt knowing he thought she was wrong. But she didn’t repent it. Not yet at least.

D.L. joined his family, just happy to see them. Not wanting to think about the next move, the next decision. Living the moment.

Matt made his way to Audrey who hugged him tightly.

_‘What happened?’_ he heard her thinking.

He only shook his head, not ready to go over it with her right now.

No one spoke.

“So,” Hiro began, “are we heading north soon?”

No one answered him.

“Alright,” Niki said, “someone has to say it. What the hell, Peter?”

“What was I supposed to do?” he asked her, not unkindly. “Nathan’s my…”

“We know that,” Mohinder said as calmly as he could, still trying to adjust to the idea of Peter not being dead. “We do, but you can’t expect…”

“The colony has never turned anyone away before,” Peter said.

“Well,” Jacobs countered, “to be fair, no one like Nathan Petrelli has ever showed up wanting in. No offense.”

He’d looked directly at Nathan as he’d said that last part, the only one in the room besides Peter and Sullivan who seemed capable of it.

Nathan shrugged as if unconcerned by the subtle sting.

“We can’t stay here,” Ando said. “Not long. The patrols… This house is safe but in a day or two…”

“We’ll go north,” D.L. stated. “All of us. We can work things out there. Right now no one in this room is safe.”

“The patrols will let up at dawn,” Nathan added. “That’s standard procedure. At six they have shift change. It would be the best time to leave if we plan on going soon.”

Peter looked around the room to see how everyone had taken that bit of information.

D.L., Hiro and Mohinder all seemed to be considering it in a favorable light, or at least they seemed to be considering it. Audrey, Niki, Ando and Jacobs were a bit harder to comprehend, their faces each a bit more stoic. Claire sat with her face completely turned so there was no telling how she felt. Micah looked a bit frightened. And that left only Matt; Matt who was obviously angry.

If anyone objected, Peter knew it would be Matt.

“The council can decide,” Jacobs finally said, once more breaking the silence. “Of course, they’ve never…”

“The council doesn’t exist any longer,” Peter informed him. “It was Beatrice and Albert who were turning in… they were working with Primatech. We didn’t have time to tell you everything, just that Claire…”

Jacobs nodded solemnly and knew this wasn’t the time for that either. They could discuss it later.

“Alright,” D.L. said deciding it. “Let’s get ready. Get a little rest. It’s only a few hours until we go.”

Everyone got up, began to move about, eager to leave the room and to be doing something. Everyone more than willing to let the matter go for the time being.

Dawn came quickly and just as Nathan had promised the patrols had vanished.

The only hitch was that they were now so numerous that another car was needed to transport them all. Micah, who had a gift with these types of things, located one easily and they loaded up and left before the clock struck seven.

D.L. drove the first vehicle, with Niki, Micah, Hiro and Ando riding along. Sullivan drove the second one with Nathan and Peter, leaving Mohinder to drive the third with Matt, Audrey and Jacobs.

Claire was momentarily undecided.

Matt was certain Claire was going to join Peter, so he was completely caught off guard when she approached his door and told him to slide over.

Matt did as she asked, but still couldn’t look at her.

_‘I just want you to understand.’_

“Not now,” he said quietly.

“Well when?” she asked.

“If we talk about this now I’m only going to say something that will only end up hurting you,” Matt said, putting his head in his hands. “I don’t want to be mean, Claire. Just wait, alright?”

Claire nodded silently, turning to look out the window just as Audrey fixed him with a funny look.

_‘Are you going to tell me?’_ he heard her ask.

“Later.”

****

Getting back to the colony proved fairly easy, much easier than they thought it would.

After everyone new to the facility was assigned rooms, Peter, Jacobs, Daniel and Maggie all locked themselves up in the council’s quarters to discuss their options.

Nathan, wise once more, stayed out of the way; choosing to stay in his room and await his fate.

Both Claire and Audrey left Matt alone for the time being, it was better that way. He needed time to think.

Finally, Claire heard a knock at her door.

“Hi,” Peter said as she greeted him.

Claire managed a small smile as she gestured for him to come inside.

“I wanted to let you know what we’ve decided,” Peter said. “We’re going to have a meeting in about an hour, but I thought you might want to hear it first.”

“Okay,” Claire said, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“That and I wanted to thank you,” Peter said, sitting just opposite her. “I don’t know how you did it, but thank you. Nathan would thank you as well…”

“I don’t want his thanks,” Claire interrupted. “I didn’t do it for him.”

“You think it was a mistake? Bringing him here? Saving him?”

“I know he’s your brother, but…”

Claire stopped, shaking her head. Not sure what she thought anymore.

“Peter,” she said. “He’s changed. He’s not the same…”

“Everyone keeps saying that,” Peter said. It wasn’t a denial. He spoke it like a fact. “I realize that a lot has happened. I know what he’s done, but…”

“You love him,” Claire finished. “I know it. He’s your family. You can’t stop loving your family, no matter what. I know.”

“They’re going to let him stay,” Peter continued softly. “On a sort of probation. He’ll probably never…”

“He shouldn’t be trusted,” Claire finished firmly.

Peter nodded, not in agreement but in understanding; respecting her feelings on the subject.

“We’re also going to move,” Peter said after a pause. “The Order knows where we are here and it’s just a matter of time before they follow us.”

“Where to?” Claire asked. “Where else is there?”

“Jacobs thinks Boston will be safe. It won’t be easy, especially at this time of year, but he doesn’t think the Order will go that far north. Neither do I.”

Claire nodded, considered it as she picked at a stray thread on the comforter covering the bed.

“I know what…” Peter began haltingly. “I know what Nathan staying means… I know, I know Matt won’t want to stay after this, but...”

Claire looked up at him in surprise.

“Did you hear him think that?” she asked.

Peter nodded in confirmation.

“He won’t stay. At least, that’s… that’s what I heard from him back at the safe house. He might have changed his mind by now.”

Claire stood up to cross the room, folding her arms against her chest.

“I’d understand if you went with him,” he finally said.

Claire looked at him as if she didn’t know what he meant.

Peter couldn’t figure why, just the same way he couldn’t figure what type of relationship existed between Matt and Claire. From what he’d seen and heard, he could only guess. That they were close was obvious. It was how close they were that wasn’t, at least not immediately.

Three years was a very long time.

“Would you want me to go?”

“No,” he answered quickly. “Of course I wouldn’t want that but I’d…”

“I don’t know,” Claire interrupted quickly. “I really don’t know.”

Peter nodded, getting back to his feet and heading towards the door.

“We could really use you here,” Peter said softly. “The colony, I mean. We need people like you.”

“Just the colony?”

“No,” Peter admitted. “Not just the colony.”

Claire nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

They said their goodbyes and Claire took a moment to think it over.

She had to clear the air between them, between herself and Matt. She and Matt had been through too much to start fighting like this, to start falling apart this way.

Claire knew she had to talk to him. To find out if what Peter had told her was true; if Matt really was planning on leaving.

She’d hoped he’d heard it wrong.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she headed off to his room. 

“You’re not going to the meeting?”

Matt looked up at Claire, standing in his doorway, and shook his head.

“Jacobs already filled me in.”

She nodded, hesitantly moving inside and shutting the door behind her.

“Where’s Audrey?” she asked.

“I don’t know. She’s pretty mad at me so…”

Matt trailed off with a shrug.

“She just wants you to tell her what’s happening,” Claire provided, sitting down next to him. “That’s all women ever want, all anyone wants. The truth.”

“Do you want to hear the truth?” he asked her very seriously.

“I want you to forgive me.”

“You don’t…” Matt stammered, unsure what to say. “You don’t need me to forgive you. I’m not mad… I don’t hate you, Claire. You know I can’t, but you shouldn’t have done it. You shouldn’t have…”

“I didn’t do it for Nathan,” she interrupted.

“I know,” Matt said quietly.

“So, where does this leave us?” she asked. “Are you going to stop talking to me or…”

“I can’t do it.”

Claire shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head.

“Claire, I can’t be around that man. I’m trying to be understanding and forgiving and I can’t. I can’t trust him, I can’t forgive him, I can barely look at him.”

“No one is asking you to be best friends,” Claire said, her voice caught between a plea and a laugh.

“And I know that makes me a hypocrite,” he continued, ignoring her attempt at a joke. “That I’ve blamed him for this as much as he’s blamed me, but it’s too late to stop now. There’s just too much history.”

“So what? Are you just going to leave? Just…”

Matt looked at her in surprise. He’d been thinking that, seriously thinking about doing just that since they’d first decided to bring Nathan along.

“How did you…”

“Peter told me,” Claire provided. “Remember? He can read minds too.”

Matt nodded. He actually had forgotten. Everything was changing so fast. Peter was back from the dead. Nathan was among them again.

“You were,” she said, hurt. “You were going to leave. Were you even going to tell me? Ask me if…”

Claire stopped, not sure she wanted an answer or not.

“Of course I was going to tell you,” Matt returned, as hurt by the accusation as she’d been by the prospect. “I wouldn’t just leave without saying goodbye. Without telling you first.”

“But you weren’t going to ask me to come,” Claire said.

“Would you? If I did ask, would you really do it?”

Claire paused and considered it.

“And that’s why I’m not asking,” Matt said flatly. “I know… I know you don’t want to go. That you wouldn’t want to leave and I’m not blaming you for that.”

“Yes you are. You’re making me choose.”

“I’m not asking you to pick sides here, Claire,” Matt shot back, trying not to be angry.

“No, you’re picking my side for me.”

“Claire,” Matt said with a shake of his head. “Either I’m asking you to or I’m not. You can’t have this argument both ways.”

“I know,” she said, standing and beginning to pace the room. “I just, I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay. You don’t have to leave. You’re being…”

“Stupid?”

“Stubborn,” she said, coming to an abrupt stop.

Claire didn’t bother to check the tears that had begun to run down her face.

Matt couldn’t even look at her.

“What am I going to do without you?” Claire finally asked, her voice thick with emotion. “Matt, I need you to stay. I won’t know…”

Matt was up and across the room before she could finish, pulling her into his arms and kissing the top of her head.

“We both know that isn’t true,” he said softly. “You don’t need me. You’d be fine on your own. If anything, I’ve needed…”

“You’re my family,” Claire said. “You’re the only family I have left.”

“You’re not making this easy,” Matt replied, his voice a bit shaky.

“Good. It shouldn’t be.”

“Claire,” he said taking a reluctant step back, “this is the only way I can see…”

“It can’t be,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s not fair. It’s…”

“I’m not going to make this a ‘him or me’ situation,” he said, his mind already set. “If people here are willing to give him another chance, that’s their decision. Not mine. I can’t. I can’t and it’s not…”

Matt turned his back on her, rubbing his face in a gesture of frustration she knew well coming from him.

Claire nodded, thinking now she might understand; at least a little.

“Are you coming back?” she asked.

Matt didn’t answer. He didn’t know.

“Okay,” Claire said finally, turning away as well. “Okay then.”

Neither moved.

“Are you going to at least come with us to Boston?”

“No,” Matt answered. “I think it’s probably better if I don’t.”

Claire nodded sadly.

“So,” she managed. “This is goodbye?”

“Yeah. I think so. For now. I’m not planning on…”

Matt didn’t finish.

Claire moved back toward him, back into Matt’s arms, hugging him tightly.

“You’d better come back,” she said into his chest.

“I will,” he said, kissing the top of her head one last time.

“Okay,” Claire said, moving slowly away from him. “Then we won’t say goodbye. We’ll say, see you later instead. Alright?”

Matt nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment.

“See you later then,” she said as she reached the door.

“I’ll see you later, Claire.”

“Okay,” she whispered, turning and rushing out the door as the tears began to fall faster and faster.


	35. Boston

“Did you tell her?”

“I told her I was leaving,” Matt answered. “She doesn’t need to know any more than that. She’d only try and talk me out of it if she knew the truth.”

Jacobs nodded in silent agreement. He had found Matt as soon as the meeting was over, gone looking for him, needing to know his answer.

“What about the other blond?”

Matt raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

“The woman, I forget her name. The one with you…”

“Audrey?” Matt provided.

“Yes, Audrey. What about her? Have you asked her yet?”

“No,” Matt admitted. “I’m not really sure she’ll…”

“Of course she’ll go with you.”

“I’m not really sure I want her to,” Matt said. “This isn’t exactly a vacation you’re asking me to go on.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jacobs asked. “You don’t have to. I can always ask someone else.”

“No,” Matt said. “I’ll do it, I want to do it. It will give me time to get my head back together. To calm down.”

“Good,” Jacobs sighed in relief. “To be honest, the list of people I can ask is rather short.”

“Hey, I made the top of a short list. That’s a first.”

“Ha. Hardly,” Jacobs said. “But seriously, are you going to ask Audrey to join you? You really shouldn’t go alone, that wouldn’t be safe. If not her, I can always find…”

“I’ll ask her,” Matt said quietly.

Jacobs stared at him, hard, as if deciding something.

“I feel compelled to tell you that I voted to let Nathan Petrelli stay with us,” Jacobs confessed. “If I’d have said no it would have tied.”

“Did you do that to get me on this trip?” Matt asked, equally as serious.

“No,” Jacobs answered. “I did it because Jonah… because Peter believes in him and Peter has good instincts.”

“Peter is a good man,” Matt said with a short nod.

“When are you going to leave?”

“Early tomorrow morning. Before the first group leaves for Boston.”

“Are you going to tell your other friends?”

“I’m going to tell them goodbye,” Matt said firmly. “It’s not going to be easy. I think D.L. is going to try to talk me out of it, I think he might already have an idea that… it doesn’t matter. I’m going.”

“One year,” Jacobs said firmly. “I’ll expect you in Boston a year from today, give or take a day or two.”

“Boston it is,” Matt said taking the man’s offered hand. “I’ve never been there before and I’m lousy with a map, but I’ll be there. One year from today.”

“Good,” Jacobs said with a sad smile.

“It's been a few years since I've been to Texas,” Matt added. “Should be interesting.”

“Be safe.”

“I will.”

****  
The first group was set.

They had decided to send a small group up ahead of the main party to scout the location, find a suitable residence and basically ensure that Boston was still, in fact, livable.

Hiro had volunteered to lead the group of five. They were to return in a week with the details. In the mean time the remainder of the colony set about packing and preparing for the mass migration.

The new council, consisting of Daniel, Jacobs, Peter and Maggie, was a temporary thing. As soon as they were up and running in Boston they planned to hold their first ever election.

The council would essentially remain a three member board, but this time there would be a definite leader, elected by popular vote, the two remaining positions filled by the runner-ups. Elected members would serve two years. It wasn’t much of a system, but it was a start.

Claire watched as they set off, waving to Hiro and the others; wishing them luck.

“So,” Niki said throwing an arm around her shoulder, “how are you?”

“A mess,” Claire admitted, turning to walk back in the main entrance with her towards a semi-secluded table. “A complete and total mess.”

“He’ll be back.”

“I know he will,” Claire said. “It’s just… you know we’ve spent almost every day together in the past three years. We’ve talked… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“You’ll do fine,” Niki assured her.

“Do you think I did the right thing?” Claire asked her, knowing D.L. had to have filled her in on the details by now.

Niki paused briefly.

“Yes,” she finally said. “I do. And you know what, Matt does too.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“Listen,” Niki said seriously. “Matt is a great guy. I know you look up to him and respect his opinions, but you’re allowed to disagree with them. You’re allowed to think he’s wrong.”

“Do you think he was?”

“I don’t know,” Niki admitted. “I don’t know if you were or he was or what. Time will tell. My point is that he loves you and he’s not going to stop loving you because you don’t see eye-to-eye. That’s how it works.”

“Then why did he leave?” Claire asked with a frown.

“Because it’s been three years, three really stressful, long years and maybe he knows that you need to learn to trust your own decisions. And that as long as he’s around you won’t have a reason to.”

“Did he tell you to say that?”

“Maybe,” Niki said with a smile.

Claire nodded. It sounded like Matt.

“I really think he just wants what’s best for you. What’s best for all of us.”

Claire was silent as she considered it.

“Did Audrey go with him?” she asked.

Niki nodded, scrutinizing the younger woman for a reaction.

“Good,” Claire said with a small smile. “I’m glad he knows what’s best for him, too. I wouldn’t want him going alone to wherever… Wait, did he tell you where he was going?”

“No,” Niki sighed. “Just that he needed some time away. Some time to think.”

“That’s strange,” Claire said. “I mean, Matt makes plans for everything. It’s like he can’t cross a room unless he knows exactly which way is best.”

“He might just not want us following him.”

“You’re probably right,” Claire said with a nod.

“Right about what?” Peter asked, joining them at their table.

“Nothing,” Claire said, dismissing the topic.

“I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Niki said as she got up with a smile.

Claire gave her a quick wave before turning her full attention to Peter.

“I heard that Matt left.”

“Yeah,” Claire said with a brisk nod. 

“I’m sorry, Claire,” Peter said. “I didn’t think it would come to that. I really didn’t. I just thought…”

“I know,” she said. “It’s not your fault.”

Peter smiled tightly, knowing pretty well that it was his fault. That he’d been the one to insist Nathan join them.

“Besides,” Claire continued. “He’ll be back. He promised me he’d be back and he hasn’t broken one yet.”

“Yeah,” Peter returned with a lot less enthusiasm.

There was an awkward pause and tension that neither of them knew how to combat.

“I heard…”

“I hope…”

They both spoke over one another before stopping and laughing.

“Sorry,” he said, “go ahead.”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Claire said, still grinning. “I just, I heard you’re pretty much a shoe in for a spot on the council is all.”

Peter sighed, shaking his head, but smiling none-the-less.

“I’m not sure what to do about that,” he admitted.

“You’ll be great,” Claire said encouragingly. “You’re like a complete natural leader.”

“More like a complete natural disaster,” he laughed. “I mean, I can’t even figure out how to do whatever it is I do.”

“You’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Claire admonished.

“Maybe not,” he admitted.

“So, um, what were you saying?” Claire asked.

“I just,” Peter said, blushing slightly, “I was just hoping that you’re not too upset about Matt leaving.”

“I’m going to miss him,” Claire said sincerely.

Peter nodded, biting his lower lip and looking at the table.

“Wait,” Claire said as it suddenly occurred to her how this might look to him, “I’m not… You don’t think that I have... That Matt and I? Because, no. No. It’s not like that at all.”

“Oh, no,” Peter said quickly. “I didn’t…”

“Yes you did,” Claire said with a laugh. “Don’t worry, you’re not the first. But really, it’s not that way.”

“Well, you know you do…”

“Kind of talk about him a lot?” Claire provided.

“Yeah,” Peter said with an embarrassed laugh.

“Well, I do. I know I do, but we’ve been by one another’s side for three years,” she returned. “He’s my family. I don’t know how to explain it better than that.”

“So there’s nothing…”

“No,” Claire said emphatically. “No. Nothing like that. Seriously, if anything he’s become like an older brother.”

“Well, that would explain why instead of saying goodbye he told me that if I hurt you he’d come back and give me another scar.”

“He did not,” Claire said, shocked.

“I’m not making that up,” Peter laughed.

“Well then,” Claire said with a smile, “I guess you’d better not hurt me then.”

****

“Mr. Davies, I’m glad you’ve returned.”

“Thank you, sir. It’s good to be back.”

“Is it taken care of?”

“Yes, sir,” Davies answered. “The Board has been eliminated and Ms. Yi has been set in place.”

“What do you think of this woman?”

“I think she’s ruthless,” he answered.

“Good. And Petrelli?”

“Nathan Petrelli did escape,” he answered. “We have confirmation that he made it into New York along with his brother, Peter, and the others.”

“And our contact in the colony is still in place?”

“Yes, sir,” Davies continued. “Maggie Jenson made contact today. She informed us that the colony is migrating north to Boston as soon as possible. She’ll continue to check in at regular intervals.”

“Have they replaced the council?”

“Not yet,” Davies said. “They’re waiting until they all reach their final destination. She anticipates that Henry Jacobs and Peter Petrelli will be named to serve. She is unsure who the third will be.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, sir. I’ve informed Ms. Yi of the new laws and initiatives that are to be put in place.”

“I trust you are also sending her the means to do all of this.”

“Of course.”

“Good. Excellent work. Excellent. Keep a close eye on her, just to be certain, but I think she’ll do very well. Finally our real work can begin.”

Davies gave him a small nod, turning to go.

“Davies, what about our other little problem? Now that Peter Petrelli has reemerged so-to-speak, have we heard anything about the other one?”

“Not yet, sir, but we are on the lookout for him.”

“Let’s not make the same mistakes we made in the past. Is that understood, Mr. Davies?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Linderman.”


End file.
